Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported Friday afternoon that Marcus Thomas will become UCLA Football‘s next running backs coach. Thomas was hired at San José State earlier this offseason for Ken Niumatalolo’s staff after two seasons at Navy. Thomas attended the United States Naval Academy from 2010-2014 where he also played running back. Niumatalolo was his head coach at that time.
Earlier this year, Thomas was hired to coach running backs for San Jose State under Niumatalolo.
This will be Thomas’ second stint with the team. According to his bio on Navy Sports, “He was the offensive analyst for Chip Kelly in 2020 and 2021 and the Director of Strategic Intelligence in 2019. Thomas assisted the running backs coach (2020 and 2021) and the tight ends coach (2019) as well as with special teams and was responsible for the opponent personnel scouting report. He helped lead UCLA to the 2021 Holiday Bowl, its first bowl game in four seasons.”
It was then that Thomas worked with new UCLA head coach, DeShaun Foster when Foster was running backs coach.
UCLA Football’s Current Running Backs
The Bruins currently have TJ Harden and Anthony Adkins on their roster. In 2023, Harden split time with Carson Steele. He rushed for 827 yards and eight touchdowns. Adkins got 30 carries and went for 178 yards.
Marcus Thomas spent five years in the United States Marine Corps. According to his bio, he served as the “Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 36 Detachment Officer in charge of 55 Marines for the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a forward deployed contingency-response unit in the Pacific theatre, and an Aviation Supply Officer in Okinawa, Japan where he led a team of 42 Marines, providing logistics and supply support to more than 2,000 Marines with Marine Aircraft Group 36 consisting of 58 aircraft.”
