After two seasons working with the running backs at Miami, Matt Merritt made the decision earlier this month to leave Coral Gables to become the new running backs coach of the Arizona Cardinals under new head coach Mike LaFleur.
So for the past several weeks Mario Cristobal has been on the hunt for a new running backs coach to come in and take over one of the most loaded running back rooms in college football. After losing a heartbreaker in the national title game to Indiana, Miami is set to return their entire group after standout Mark Fletcher decided to hold off on declaring for the NFL draft and will return for one final season with the 'Canes after rushing for nearly 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns. Also, Girard Pringle Jr is also returning, along with Marty Brown and Jordan Lyle to round out a very talented running backs group.
Gaby Urrutia of 247 shares this morning that the Hurricanes are targeting Denver Broncos quality control coach Favian Upshaw as their new running backs coach.
In Denver, Upshaw worked with the Broncos running backs.
Coming out of high school, Upshaw signed to play at FIU while Mario Cristobal was the head coach of the Panthers, but eventually ended up playing quarterback at Georgia Southern.
Before his jump to the NFL ranks in March of 2023, Upshaw worked at Tulane as an offensive analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach for the 2022 season. That year, the Green Wave won the AAC and knocked off USC in the Cotton Bowl while fielding one of the most efficient and productive offenses in the American Athletic Conference.
Upshaw also previously coached the running backs at Georgia Southern during the 2021 season, helping the Eagles rank near the top of the Sun Belt in a number of rushing categories, including attempts, yards per rush, and rushing offense while ranking among the top 32 teams in college football in rushing yards per game that season.
During the 2020 COVID season, Upshaw spent time at both Benedict College as well as Savannah State, where he worked with quarterbacks and running backs but neither of those programs had a season that year due to the pandemic.
He started his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Tulane in 2018-19, helping the Green Wave to back-to-back bowl wins for the first time in school history.
Over a four year career as a quarterback at Georgia Southern, Upshaw racked up over 2,400 yards of total offense while sharing the quarterback duties, and in 2015 rushed for nearly 600 yards leading the offense, rushing for six touchdowns and throwing for four touchdowns. In the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl, the team's first bowl game in program history, Upshaw was named the bowl game's MVP.
After graduating from Georgia Southern, Upshaw taught and served as the co-offensive coordinator at Astronaut HS (FL) briefly.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.