As reported by Billy Liucci, Jimbo Fisher is set to hire Marquel Blackwell to be Texas A&M’s running backs coach. Blackwell will bring over 17 years of coaching experience to College Station and spent 2022 as the running backs coach at Ole Miss.

This hiring comes a couple of weeks after Tommie Robinson’s contract was not renewed. Robinson had been at A&M since 2020.

A&M’s running back group will feature a number of talented standouts, including Le’Veon Moss and incoming five-star signee Rueben Owens‍. The hope is that under Blackwell’s direction that the Aggie tailbacks can pick up in 2023 where the mercurial Devon Achane left off.

In one year in Oxford, Blackwell’s running attack led the Southeastern Conference in rushing, averaging 256.62 yards per game for a league-best total of 3,336 on the season. Under his direction, freshman tailback Quinshon Judkins ran for 1,567 yards and 16 touchdowns, both tops in the SEC.

Prior to his one-season stint with the Rebels, Blackwell worked with ball carriers at Toledo (2016-17), West Virginia (2018) and Houston (2019-21).

Blackwell’s second campaign in H-Town saw marked improvement in the Cougars’ ground game as Houston’s rushing output increased by 847 yards from 2020 to 2021, and Houston running backs also scored 15 more touchdowns than the year before.

At Toledo, Blackwell worked with Kareem Hunt in 2016, who ultimately became a third-round draft pick by Kansas City and led the NFL in rushing as a rookie in 2017. Blackwell also helped the Rockets capture a MAC championship in 2017 with an 11-3 record. His success continued in Morgantown in 2018, where the Mountaineers had three different running backs register 100-yard rushing games.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Blackwell was a four-year starter at quarterback for South Florida and led the Bulls to a 30-12 record. Throwing for 9,108 yards and 75 touchdowns to go along with 1,235 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground, Blackwell was a 2013 inductee into USF’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Undrafted out of college, Blackwell spent four years playing professionally, including stints with the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as stops in the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League.

With Blackwell joining Bobby Petrino’s offensive staff, A&M hopes the running back stable can continue to consistently produce as the Aggies look to springboard back into contention following a 5-7 season.