“It’s good to have Tashard back home on The Flats,” Collins said. “He was a great running back for us here at Georgia Tech, was a great player in the NFL and has done a really good job at the University of North Texas, where he was named one of the top six running back coaches in America. He’s a relentless recruiter, has an enthusiastic personality and will be engaging with recruits and our current players. It’s exciting to have him back home and it’ll be great to have him around our guys.”
Before entering the coaching ranks, Choice enjoyed a six-year NFL career, playing in 88 games with the Dallas Cowboys (2008-11), Washington Redskins (2011), Buffalo Bills (2011-13) and Indianapolis Colts (2013). He totaled more than 2,000 yards as a pro (1,579 rushing, 574 receiving and 89 on kick returns) and scored 10 touchdowns.
The Jonesboro, Ga. native began his coaching career as an intern with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016, where he helped spur Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott to one of the best rookie campaigns in NFL history. His stint with the Cowboys was followed by a pair of record-breaking seasons at UNT, first as an offensive quality control assistant in 2017, then as running backs coach in 2018.
In his two seasons on the UNT staff, the Mean Green posted back-to-back nine-win seasons for the first time since the program joined the NCAA Division I FBS ranks in 1995.
Under Choice’s tutelage as running backs coach in 2018, UNT sophomore running back Deandre Torrey amassed 1,182 yards from scrimmage (977 rushing, 205 receiving) and scored 17 touchdowns, en route to being named second-team all-Conference USA. Making Torrey’s development even more impressive is the fact that he didn’t enter the starting lineup until nearly midway through the season, as UNT junior Loren Easly was C-USA’s leading rusher with 386 yards in four games before he sustained a season-ending injury.
Choice also assisted with the UNT’s running backs in his quality-control role in 2017 and played a part in all of the Mean Green’s running backs averaging at least 5 yards per carry, led by second-team all-C-USA selection Jeffrey Wilson (1,215 yards and 16 touchdowns in 11 just games, good for the nation’s second-highest yards-per-game average – 110.5 ypg).
