See the collection connections between the Jaguars and Texans
Time to head back on campus.
This week's college connections scan the Southeastern Conference, the Big 10 and even the Mid-American Conference. In addition to the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars sharing a common professional relationship (both in the AFC South), many of the players and coaches on both squads share collegiate ties.
The biggest connection involves Penn State, the Texans coaching staff and a certain Jaguars wide receiver. When Texans head coach Bill O'Brien was hired, he brought several members of his former staff back at Penn State down to Houston. So, in addition to O'Brien, Penn State ties extend to director of football research Jim Bernhardt, secondary coach John Butler, defensive quality control coach Will Lawing, offensive quality control coach Tim Kelly, wide receivers coach Stan Hixon, strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald, assistant strength and conditioning coach Sean Hayes, running backs coach Charles London, and assistant secondary coach Anthony Midget.
That entire group coached Jacksonville's Allen Robinson, who is off a solid start in the 2015 season. The former Nittany Lion wide receiver has 22 catches and four touchdowns for the Jags so far. Below is a picture of O'Brien and Robinson from back in their Happy Valley days.
We travel from Pennsylvania to Bowling Green, Kentucky for our next connection. Texans special team coach Bob Ligashesky is quite familiar with Jacksonville defense coordinator Bob Babic. In fact, the two men were on the 1991 Bowling Green football staff, which you can see in it's entirely below.
Back in SEC country, Texans linebacker Akeem Dent and Jaguars DT Abry Jones headlined the Georgia defense from 2009-11. Houston center Ben Jones was on the other side of the Bulldogs line back then, starting at center for Mark Richt's squad. Below is a photo of Jones and Dent chasing a player Texans fans should be familiar with...Cam Newton.
There are even more college connections. See the rest below.
-- Texans S Lonnie Ballentine played at Memphis while Jaguars Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Tom Myslinski (2010) and Strength and Conditioning Associate Jess Langvardt coached there (2010-11)
-- Texans CB Kareem Jackson (2006-09) and DE Jeoffrey Pagan (2011-13) played at Alabama with Jaguars LS Carson Tinker (2009-13) and while Jaguars Tight Ends Coach Ron Middleton coached there (2007)
-- Texans CB A.J. Bouye played at Central Florida with Jaguars QB Blake Bortles (2010-12); Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins played at Clemson with Jaguars DE Andre Branch (2010-11) and OG Tyler Shatley (2011- 12)
-- Texans TE Ryan Griffin played at Connecticut with Jaguars CB Dwayne Gratz (2008-12)
-- Texans FB Jay Prosch played at Auburn with Jaguars RB Corey Grant and CB Nick Marshall (2013)
-- Texans G Oday Aboushi played at Virginia with Jaguars C Luke Bowanko (2009-12)
-- Texans OLB Jadeveon Clowney played at South Carolina with Jaguars G A.J. Cann (2010-13)
-- Texans S Rahim Moore played at UCLA while Jaguars Assistant Defensive Backs Coach Mike Rutenberg coached there (2008)