Bay-Made King Expanding His Coaching Game With Bulls
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 16, 2018 – Although he's seemingly seen it all and done it all in football,
Shaun King continues to grow and evolve with the game as a valuable Bull on
Charlie Strong's coaching staff.
One of the first true dual-threat collegiate quarterbacks, the former record-breaking playmaker at Tulane had a successful six-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl win with Tampa Bay. Nearly 10 years after officially hanging up his cleats, King joined the USF staff as a quarterbacks coach in 2016 and he's expanding his skills in his second season as the Bulls' running backs coach.
"I made the transition well," King said. "I got to see the game from another vantage point. Whatever Coach Strong asks me to do, I'm going to go and give him my best effort."
King's hard-working mentality made him a big hit in his running back coaching debut in 2017. USF became the only team in the nation with three players to rush for 800 yards or more while the Bulls ranked eighth nationally in rushing offense (264.1 ypg).
With running backs rotating about eight deep this fall, King expects his Bulls to keep the strong USF ground game tradition going on top of serving important special teams duties.
"We're trying to make them all well-rounded," King said. "... We're continuing to push all of them to be their best version of themselves."
Now in year two of coordinator
Sterlin Gilbert's up-tempo attack, USF's backs are even more decisive during plays this fall now that the core group of
Jordan Cronkrite (Miami),
Elijah Mack (Punta Gorda, Fla.),
Trevon Sands (Miami) and
Duran Bell Jr. (Tampa) are well-seasoned in the system.
"Some of that stuff is second nature to those guys, so they can go out and really showcase their talent," King said. "I think that's important. They can play faster, play harder and longer because that mental exhaustion that comes from not really understanding what you're doing, it doesn't exist."
Like his USF pupils, King also is mentally moving at a faster pace this fall thanks to remaining a true student of his coaching craft. The learning process started in 2006 at Gibbs High School, where he had a Hall of Fame playing career in St. Petersburg.
"I got into the profession late, so there are so many things I'm still learning," King said. "Every time you have a situation with a young man, good or bad, you learn from it. Every time you self-scout from the previous year, you learn something."
King said he's kept every notebook filled with football gems of knowledge since arriving at USF and his lessons to the Bulls' backs go well beyond the lines of the field.
"He knows how to get into your mind. He teaches you about football, but he teaches you about life also," Sands said. "Having him as a coach is like a blessing because it's beyond football. He teaches you how to be a man."
King Loves the Bay Area
King enjoys everything about his role at USF, which allows him to thrive in another key aspect of coaching. Scroll through his Twitter profile page (
@realshaunking) and you'll see that he likes to be out in the community searching for the next big Bulls standout.
"I think the most important part of any organization is the acquisition of talent," King said. "Recruiting is having an opportunity to go out and convince the best and the brightest to come build their legacy in the Bay Area, in one of the fastest growing cities in the country."
Bay-made King said being in booming Tampa is truly unique for student-athletes because it can provide them with financial independence if they want to stick around as professionals after graduation. The Bay Area also allows King to keep growing in a profession he's not taking for granted.
"Coach Strong, I can't thank him enough for giving me the opportunity to stay. The Bay Area, St. Pete particularly because I was born there, is such an important part of who I am and what I've been able to become," King said. "I think I'm going to have an opportunity to do great things in this coaching profession. I'd love for them to be here around people I have a lot of history with and I know really well. I think that makes it extra special."
What's Ahead for King's Versatile Backs
USF will practice for the 14
th time of the fall Saturday morning and scrimmage situations are another opportunity for the Bulls' backs to push for playing time.
Jordan Cronkrite made an impression last Saturday by rushing for a 66-yard touchdown but production from the entire group must continue beyond fall camp if they want more reps.
"That's the great thing about having a room full of guys that can play is it challenges the guys that are in the game to continue to perform at a high level," King said. "It pushes the guys that aren't in the game. If they do the right things, they've got a chance to be a part of what we're doing, too."
Doing the right things also requires USF's backs to go the extra mile on kick return and coverage teams. Athleticism definitely helps the Bulls on special teams, but it also benefits backs hoping to reach the next level.
"A lot of these college kids want to play in the National Football League and have aspirations of making the NFL. For a lot of them, their way to stick early is going to be on special teams," King said. "Coach Strong does a great job of hammering home that point and we're definitely doing it in my room. You're going to see a lot of my guys on a lot of the special teams."
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
USF posted its second straight 10-win season in 2017 (10-2) by winning its second straight Birmingham Bowl with a 38-34 victory over Texas Tech. USF is one of just 15 teams nationally to win 20-plus games in the last two seasons (21-4) and posted a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the top 25, reaching as high as No. 13 in Week 8 of the 2017 season. The Bulls have won five of their last six bowl appearances and made nine (6-3) total bowl appearances in 21 seasons, including a current run of three straight bowls. USF won a program-record 11 games in 2016 (11-2) and has posted 14 winning seasons. The USF program, which first took the field in 1997, reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2007 and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and had 28 first-team all-conference selections.
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