Although the Los Angeles Rams offense has been a shell of itself during the 2022 season, no one doubts that head coach Sean McVay is one of football’s offensive gurus.
Since coming to Los Angeles, the Rams have almost always ranked near the top in offensive efficiency and because of that members of his coaching staff have become hot commodities in coaching hiring cycles. For example, several of McVay’s associates have gone on to become head coaches including Matt LaFleur and most recently Kevin O’Connell.
Assistants on his staff have also seen more coaching opportunities and it appears another one is getting an opportunity to spread their wings as Rams running back coach Ra’Shaad Samples is set to become the new wide receivers coach at Arizona State, via Pete Thamel of ESPN:
Sources: Arizona State is hiring Ra’Shaad Samples from the LA Rams, who was the youngest position coach in the NFL last year. He’s going to coach wide receivers and have large role with the offense, including bringing Rams concepts into scheme.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 6, 2022
At 27 years old, Samples has quickly made a name for himself and it appears that he’ll be able to bring what he’s learned with the Rams over to the Sun Devils. Teams have been unafraid in recent years to hire younger, less experienced coaches and Samples is the embodiment of this trend.
Before he came to Los Angeles, Samples spent three years with former SMU head coach Sonny Dykes where he served as running backs coach and assistant head coach. Prior to that, he was the assistant wide receivers coach at the University of Texas in 2018.
A former wide receiver himself, Samples knows the position well and with year of working alongside McVay under his belt he should be successful with Arizona State next season.
