USC football reportedly looking at Rams’ Ejiro Evero as DBs coach

USC football may be looking at Rams’ assistant Ejiro Evero to fill the opening on the Trojan staff at defensive backs coach, according to Bruce Feldman.

With reports swirling that USC football has hired a new defensive line and running backs coach, attention now turns to the two remaining openings on the staff: Defensive backs and wide receivers coach.

When it comes to the former, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic has an idea for replacing Ronnie Bradford, who was let go after the 2018 season.

On Monday night, Feldman tweeted, “A name to keep in mind, I’m hearing, as USC continues to overhaul its’ staff is Rams safeties coach EJ Evero.”

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Ejiro Evero is in his second season coaching safeties for the Rams and has a definite link to USC defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast.

While Pendergast was coaching linebackers for the San Francisco 49ers in 2014 and 2015, Evero was a defensive assistant, specifically working with linebackers. He spent five years in total with the 49ers, with his last two seasons there in close proximity to Pendergast.

From San Francisco, Evero spent a year with the Green Bay Packers as a defensive quality control coach before being hired by the Rams to coach safeties in 2017.

He does have some college experience. His first coaching gig came at his alma mater UC-Davis, where he was an intern after a Division II All-American career at safety. However, his time in the college ranks was certainly limited. He has been coaching in the NFL in some capacity since 2007.

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Grabbing an NFL assistant coach to make a lateral move to college would be an intriguing hire, but there are reasons to be skeptical of the wisdom of the link. Evero doesn’t have real experience as a college coach or recruiter. He is also fairly inexperienced in his role as a full-time assistant. The Rams job is his first in charge of a position group, having held “defensive assistant” and “quality control” titles throughout his prior coaching career.

Compared to the wealth of experience boasted by reported new defensive line coach Chad Kauha’aha’a and running backs coach Mike Jinks, there are more questions surrounding this possibility.

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On the other hand, there are reasons to be encouraged by the rumor despite the inexperience. Evero’s safeties in Los Angeles have thrived and he appears to be a bright young mind in the coaching ranks. Lamarcus Joyner was one of the highest graded safeties in the NFL last year per Pro Football Focus while John Johnson III’s star is rising even brighter under Evero’s tutelage.