The unique tie between NFL running back Jordan Howard, Notre Dame and Deland McCullough
Jordan Howard wanted to go to Notre Dame. It just didn’t work out.
Howard started his collegiate career as a running back for his hometown school, UAB. He grew up in Gardendale, Ala., 15 miles north of downtown Birmingham. The UAB football program ceased to exist, temporarily, after Howard’s sophomore season. He had just run 306 times 1,587 yards and 13 touchdowns before the program was shut down.
PROMOTION: Sign up for just $1 for your first year at Blue & Gold
Howard needed a new home, and he wanted it to be Notre Dame. He even went on a visit to South Bend. In the end, though, he was told his college credits from UAB would not transfer to Notre Dame. He shifted his attention to Indiana. That was the school that contacted him first after the fallout at UAB, after all.
The coach who reached out? Current Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough.
“He’s the man,” Howard said of McCullough on the Inside the Garage podcast. “Outside of football he’s cool. He’s probably one of the realest coaches I’ve ever had. He always knows the meaning of life. It’s bigger than football with him. He’s going to get after you, but you’re definitely going to have fun.”
Notre Dame baseball
• What Notre Dame baseball will look like on the field under coach Shawn Stiffler
In nine games, Howard ran 196 times for 1,213 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior at Indiana. That was enough to leave school early and get drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 150th overall selection in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. In six NFL seasons with the Bears, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles, Howard has run for 4,361 yards and 37 touchdowns. He’s also caught 85 passes for 653 yards and two scores.
Howard, 27, has credited McCullough with turning him into a complete back. A pro-caliber one. McCullough came to Notre Dame this offseason after his second stint at Indiana. He coached the Hoosiers’ running backs from 2011-16 before spending one year at USC in 2017. He won a Super Bowl as the Kansas City Chiefs’ running backs coach in 2020 before returning to Bloomington for one year.
McCullough ran for 4,368 yards and 36 touchdowns in four seasons at Miami (Ohio) from 1992-95. He’s tasked with coaching a Notre Dame running backs corps that’s been hit hard by injuries. Sophomore Logan Diggs is still rehabbing after shoulder surgery in late April. Freshman Jadarian Price will miss the entire 2022 season with a torn Achilles. McCullough has three healthy scholarship running backs at the moment; junior Chris Tyree, sophomore Audric Estime and freshman Gi’Bran Payne.
He’s no stranger to coaching through injuries.
Howard missed time with an ankle sprain and meniscus tear in 2015. He still produced at a prolific rate in nine games, but so did his backup. Devine Redding rushed 226 times for 1,012 yards and nine touchdowns. McCullough, obviously, oversaw the entire operation. It was next man up then at Indiana, and it’s next man up now at Notre Dame.
