March 4 Update >> After we shared this last week, 247 is now reporting that Jones is joining Lincoln Riley's staff.
Anthony Jones Jr., who's steadily carved a name for himself the past seasons in college football as one of the sport's top-tier running backs coaches, is a candidate for an assistant coaching post with one of college football's all-time most storied programs, FootballScoop has learned.
Jones Jr., who two years ago interviewed with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and again within the past two weeks has received NFL entreaties, has emerged as viable candidate for the USC Trojans running backs job under Lincoln Riley, sources told FootballScoop late Wednesday night.
The Trojans are seeking a replacement for just-departed running backs coach Kiel McDonald, who exited Troy for an opportunity on Jim Harbaugh's inaugural Los Angeles Chargers staff.
Already, Jones Jr. has a tangential connection to the USC staff; he worked side-by-side with then-TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, younger brother of Lincoln Riley, during the 2022 college football season before Garrett Riley departed after the year to take over the offense for Dabo Swinney at Clemson.
There is no deal completed between USC and Jones Jr.; additionally, sources told FootballScoop that TCU very much would like to retain their top young running backs coach for a third season in Fort Worth, if possible.
Jones Jr., a Memphis, Tennessee, native, who played collegiately at Chattanooga and quickly launched a successful high school coaching career with multiple high schools in the Memphis area, "is deep in it at USC for the running backs job," a source told FootballScoop; a second source said simply, "That's accurate."
Following four seasons coaching running backs at the University of Memphis, helping multiple tailbacks garner NFL opportunities during that stint, Jones Jr. has spent the past two seasons on Sonny Dykes's TCU Horned Frogs staff.
TCU, of course, became the Cinderella story in all of college football in 2022, when it advanced to the College Football Playoff Championship before it fell to back-to-back national champion Georgia.
Jones Jr., who won 20 games in his final two seasons at Cordova High School (Tennessee) and advanced into the TSSAA 6A semifinals -- the Volunteer State's largest classification, also helped approximately 75 of his players earn college football scholarship opportunities during his six-season run as a prep head coach.
He then transitioned to the collegiate game, joining the Memphis staff and continuing to climb the coaching ranks since that time.
Jones Jr. is part of a trio of Memphis-rooted running backs coaches in football who have ascended to the top of their profession; Jerry Mack, a former head coach at North Carolina Central and key cog the past three seasons for Josh Heupel at Tennessee, was just hired to the Jacksonville Jaguars while Oregon's Carlos Locklyn, a former prison guard in Memphis who transitioned into coaching, has drawn national acclaim for his work with the Ducks running backs.