Texas A&M assistant T.J. Rushing reflects on career before facing Oklahoma State football

HOUSTON — When T.J. Rushing graduated from Pauls Valley High School in the spring of 2002, he had a lot of ideas about what his future might hold, but coaching football wasn’t one of them.

Over the next six years, football would provide him with an education at Stanford and a Super Bowl title with the Indianapolis Colts in the 2007 season, but the nudge toward coaching didn’t come until the following year.

Rushing suffered a knee injury that ended his 2008 season with the Colts and he began to experience a new enjoyment from the sideline.

“I got just as much joy — or probably more joy — helping out the younger guys, trying to coach ‘em up, tell them what I’m seeing, and then they’d go out and make plays,” Rushing told The Oklahoman. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, this is something.’

“And then just the thought of not being a part of football, like, not being around ball — it had grabbed ahold of me. The older I got, the more and more I fell in love this game that’s done so much for me.”

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Fifteen years later, Rushing is deep into a successful coaching career that has taken him from coast to coast at multiple major programs, and potentially a new destination in the near future.

Now 40 years old with a wife and three children under 12, Rushing currently serves as the defensive backs coach at Texas A&M, which will face No. 20 Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium.

The Aggie coaching staff is in the middle of an overhaul, following the November firing of Jimbo Fisher and the recent hiring of Mike Elko as his replacement.

Regardless of where it takes him next, Rushing is appreciative of how far football has brought him.

Not only was he a multi-position talent at Pauls Valley, playing quarterback, running back and defensive back, he was a multi-sport star, also excelling in basketball and track, winning four gold medals at the state meet as a senior.

He spent some time with the track team at Stanford, too, but he knew football was his future. In addition to his skills at cornerback, Rushing became one of the school’s most accomplished kick returners, and that knack continued with him in the NFL.

In December of 2007, with the Colts inching toward their Super Bowl run, he returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown against the Raiders in a 21-14 Indy victory.

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“The whole experience, the whole four years in Indianapolis was special,” Rushing said. “It was a special group. It was a tight-knit group. We played hard for each other.”

After missing 2008 with the knee injury, Rushing played one more year with the Colts and one with Detroit before spending some time in the Canadian Football League.

But after the 2012 season, the time came to enter the coaching realm. Rushing had stayed in touch with Todd Graham, who had tried to recruit Rushing to West Virginia out of high school. Graham was the head coach at Arizona State when Rushing reached out looking for advice on whether he should try to begin his coaching career at the high school or college level.

“If you’re serious about the college level, I’ll make a spot for you,” Graham told him.

So Rushing took a graduate assistant job at Arizona State, which turned into a quality control job in 2014 before he landed his first full-time gig at Northern Arizona a year later.

He returned to Arizona State for the 2016-17 seasons, then was hired by Mike Norvell at Memphis, where he spent two more years. And he was set to follow Norvell to Florida State until Fisher called with the job offer at Texas A&M.

While his coaching journey has bounced him around, it has proven to be the fulfilling career he envisioned.

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“Even more than I hoped it would be,” he said. “It’s a blessing to still be a part of this game, still impact young men’s lives. I’ve had the opportunity to learn and grow under a lot of big-time ball coaches who were doing it at the highest level. It’s been more than I thought and definitely a blessing.”

Rushing still has plenty of family in Oklahoma — including his parents and his wife’s parents — and was back home earlier this month to celebrate Christmas since he knew he’d have to be on site for the Texas Bowl by Christmas Day.

“We’re still ingrained in Pauls Valley,” he said. “We’re back in Oklahoma as much as possible. We absolutely love the state, so we make up excuses to come back home.”

Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

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Texas Bowl

No. 20 Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M

KICKOFF: 8 p.m. Wednesday at NRG Stadium in Houston (ESPN)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Texas A&M assistant T.J. Rushing reflects on career before facing OSU