Steve Spurrier got his man to be the next running backs coach, Everette Sands. He comes to USC via a stint on the staff of NC State.
Sands is just the latest hire in the last week as Joe Robinson was hired to coach special teams/tight ends and Kirk Botkin was hired to coach the linebackers.
As the running backs coach, he gets to continue to mold Marcus Lattimore into a NFL-caliber running back and inherits a deep roster of talented tailbacks with the likes of Shon Carson, Brandon Wilds, Kenny Miles, incoming freshman Kendric Salley and recent 2012 pledge Mike Davis.
Sands will be very successful at USC given the talent he gets to coach as they will make him look really smart.
Sands replaces Jay Graham who left to coach at Tennessee. Other candidates for this job included Lonnie Galloway (Wake Forest), Des Kitchings (Air Force) and Chris Brasfield (Oregon State).
USC is getting a strong recruiter and a young coach with solid talent to go with along with high respect amongst the coaching network.
Long-time South Carolina fans will remember the name of Everette Sands as he rushed for over 100 yards against USC when The Citadel defeated the Gamecocks in 1990 by the score of 38-35.
Here is more information on Everette Sands from the USC press release:
“We are pleased to announce Everette Sands as our running backs coach,” said Coach Spurrier. He’s from Conway, was a running back at The Citadel and has been in coaching for several years. He will do an outstanding job with our running backs. He will also assist Coach Robinson with our special teams, as will several of the other coaches.”
Sands come to South Carolina after spending the 2011 campaign coaching the running backs at NC State, his 16th year in the profession. In his lone season with the Wolfpack, his backs logged four individual 100+ yard performances for the first time since 2007.
Sands is very familiar with the Palmetto State, having logged two stints at The Citadel, first from 1999-2000 and again from 2005-10. During his second stint at the Charleston school, he coached three running backs who were named to the Southern Conference All-freshman team and had one back break the school’s single-season and single-game records for touchdowns. Between his stints at The Citadel, Sands coached the offensive backs at Ohio University.
Born July 28, 1971 in Conway, S.C., Sands earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from The Citadel in 1993. He earned four letters as a running back for the Bulldogs collecting All-Southern Conference honors in all four years. He ranks second all-time in school history with 3,926 rushing yards and with 204 points and 34 touchdowns. He garnered All-America accolades as a junior when he led The Citadel to a conference title and number one final ranking with 1,449 yards and 12 touchdowns. He served as a team captain in 1993 and was inducted into The Citadel Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. His first coaching position came at Elon from 1996-98.
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