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After spending the last five years coaching in the National Football League with three different teams, Jemal Singleton is returning to college to coach running backs at Kentucky. Singleton has spent the last two years with the Cincinnati Bengals after working with the Oakland Raiders and Indianapolis Colts. Before going to the NFL, he coached at Air Force, Oklahoma State and Arkansas.
“I am a college coach at heart,” Singleton said Thursday. “There is just a part of coaching college that appeals to me. Recruiting and helping a young man develop as a player and person … Deep down it is just something I have always enjoyed.”
He thinks more time spent in the NFL on X’s and O’s will now help make him a better college coach.
Singleton will also fill another void for coach Mark Stoops. He will be special teams coordinator and after the special teams issue UK had last year with no coordinator that is a move most fans felt was needed. Singleton was special teams coordinator at Arkansas.
However, Singleton pointed out he was involved in some phase of special teams each year in the NFL.
“It’s just something I have enjoyed being part of,” he said.
He said he would have to have time to evaluate current and new players to know schematically what might work best for special teams at UK or what changes might be needed.
He does plan to sell players on the idea that playing special teams is a chance to enhance their NFL resume since most NFL players end up playing special teams, too.
“If you are in the NFL, you probably are going to play special teams. If you are No. 2 or No. 3 (at your position), you will find your way on a team,” Singleton said. “I want to find ways to get those guys to buy into that and know this is another piece that makes me valuable to my current team and future team.”
Singleton believes his NFL background will be a plus for players he coaches and recruits since most SEC players want a chance to play in the NFL.
“I have a better idea of what that takes. I have worked drills at the (NFL) combine. I know all the steps (to make the NFL). I know things you have to do to be successful,” he said.
