Anthony Jones Jr. details decision to join the USC coaching staff
It looked for a long time this offseason as though Lincoln Riley would bring his entire offensive coaching staff back for a third season with the USC Trojans. But that changed suddenly when running backs coach Kiel McDonald left for the Los Angeles Chargers and Riley was tasked with bringing in a replacement for a coach who was considered one of the stronger position coaches on the staff. Riley was forced to fill a vacancy and, much as he did on the defensive side of the ball, he seems to have hit a homerun in bringing Anthony Jones Jr. over from TCU.
Riley said Jones started off quickly with the Trojans, both fitting in well with the staff and taking authority of his position room.
Jones spoke to the media following Tuesday’s practice and offered some insight into how he wound up in cardinal and gold this spring.
“To get a call from Coach Riley is like a dream come true,” Jones said.
That call came while Jones was in meetings with his TCU running backs. Jones said he returned the call as soon as he ended the meeting.
This was another addition this offseason where the USC brand can take some credit for landing a talented coach. While Jones said it took him “two or three days” to officially come up with a yes answer to Riley, he added that it truly didn’t take him that long to know what his ultimate decision would be. He said wrapping his head around moving to Los Angeles was the only real question he had.
The long history of great running backs at USC played a significant role.
“My wife loves Reggie Bush,” Jones said. “So when I took this job, she had the twinkle in her eye. And when I walked in my office, there’s a Reggie Bush picture right there.”
Jones rattled off the names of Marcus Allen, Bush, LenDale White and recent contributors MarShawn Lloyd, Austin Jones and Travis Dye.
“There’s been a great history of running backs here,” Jones said.
“You get an opportunity to work with a guy like Lincoln Riley and this staff, you can’t turn that opportunity down,” Jones said. “To be at USC. It’s a program that I grew up watching from afar back in my hometown of Memphis, watching the Rose Bowl games. You’ve got all the greats that have played here.”
With his wife on board and Jones already leaning that way, a couple more votes sealed the deal.
“I brought my kids down and they said, ‘Daddy, have you signed yet?’ And we’d just pulled up to the university,” Jones said. “That was my confirmation.”
