Houston native Eric Daniels was recently hired as the new offensive line coach at Sul Ross State University.
Daniels played at Jersey Village High School before getting a scholarship to play at NCAA Division II Eastern New Mexico University at linebacker in 2012.
Due to some personal family matters, Daniels left ENMU and then returned in 2015.
He later transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio and then to Tarleton State as he earned a bachelors in criminal justice in 2019 and his masters in kinesiology in 2021.
For the last four seasons at Tarleton, Daniels had served in various capacities, rising the ladder from an intern to a graduate assistant coach assisting the offensive line.
He also served as quality control as a student assistant and a lead equipment manager.
"It's been a big blessing for coach (Barry) Derickson to give me the opportunity to be the O-line coach there," Daniels said. "I'm just looking forward to the opportunity, looking to have fun with the O-line and just teaching those guys what I know and for us to strive for greatness while I'm there."
The culture has been slowly changing with the Sul Ross football program. This past season the Lobos had the fourth-best offense in the American Southwest Conference.
Sul Ross had 3,003 yards with 25 touchdowns to rank second in the ASC in passing offense.
The Lobos compiled 4,034 yards of total offense with 39 total touchdowns. The offense averaged 403.4 yards a game.
Sul Ross also boasted the fifth-best receiver in the conference as
Vicente Luevano grabbed a conference-best 12 touchdowns.
Receiver
Austin Ogunmakin ranked sixth in the ASC with 729 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
"I've seen what they've done and that's why I took the job because I saw how explosive they were on offense," Daniels said. "It's time for us to make another step to be even greater at the offensive side of the ball."
Sul Ross finished 4-6 overall as it doubled the previous season's win total. The Lobos also finished at .500 in conference play by going 4-4.
The Lobos had not finished at .500 or better in conference since the last winning season in 2016.
In the last four seasons, Tarleton has never had a losing season. Tarleton went 11-1 in 2019 at the Division II level before transitioning to the NCAA Division I level as a part of the Western Athletic Conference.
Daniels knows what it takes to win.
"I know what to look for. It's time to start winning now. That's when everything else will come into effect. That's what I'm looking to accomplish," he added.
