Georgia Tech has hired a running-backs coach to replace Tashard Choice. University of Buffalo running-backs coach Mike Daniels has been tabbed as Choice’s successor, a person familiar with the decision confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, following a report from Football Scoop.
Daniels coached at Buffalo for one season (he was also recruiting coordinator), which followed four seasons (2017-2020) as the head coach at Princeton High in Cincinnati, his alma mater, where his teams were 19-20. He coached the previous six years – 2011-2016 – in the state of Georgia at the high school and college levels, as an assistant coach at Statesboro High 2011-13 and then 2014-16 at Kennesaw State, where he was wide receivers coach for coach Brian Bohannon. Tech defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker was on the Owls’ staff with Daniels for the 2016 season, when Thacker coached the linebackers.
At Buffalo this season, running back Dylan McDuffie finished fourth in the MAC in rushing at 87.4 yards per game with 11 touchdowns and 5.1 yards per carry. He earned third-team All-MAC honors in his first season as a starter. The Bulls running backs were also much more involved in the passing game than they had been in 2020. Buffalo running backs caught 45 passes for 380 yards this past season after catching a total of five passes in the 2020 season.
Daniels played collegiately at Cincinnati 2003-07, serving as a team captain in 2007 for then-Bearcats coach Brian Kelly.
