MEET THE FOOTBALL SUPPORT STAFF
Jimmy Welker
Brandt Thomas Defensive Graduate Assistant
A 2008 graduate of LSU with a degree in general studies, Welker was a walk-on quarterback for the Fighting Tigers from 2004-07 and saw action in three games as a senior on the 2007 National Championship team. He played for both Nick Saban and Les Miles at LSU before moving on to a two-year Arena Football career.
Brandt Thomas begins his first season as a graduate assistant on the Gamecocks staff and will coach the defensive line for Davern Williams. Thomas was a four-year starter at Jacksonville State from 2006-2009, where was a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection on the defensive line. He helped the Gamecocks post a 28-17 record, including back-to-back 8-3 seasons in 2008 and 2009.
The Los Angeles, Calif., native played one season for the Tulsa Talons and the next for the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings before moving into the high school coaching ranks. He started by coaching quarterbacks and special teams at University Lab High School in Baton Rouge in 2008, a season that saw 10 players sign Division I scholarships.
Thomas served as team captain both his junior and senior years, finishing with 107 career tackles, while also finishing with over eight sacks.
He spent 2010 at his alma mater, Notre Dame high School in Sherman Oaks, Calif., coaching outside linebackers and then 2011 as the wide receivers coach at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.
Thomas, 24, is single.
Thomas began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Munford High School in 2011, working with the linebackers with former Gamecock Will Wagnon.
Welker is engaged to Jody Carlson of Irvine, Calif.
ABOUT JSU
COACHES
GAMECOCKS
OUTLOOK
INTRO
Jimmy Welker enters his first season with the Gamecocks after spending the past three in various capacities at the high school level.
Riley Fuller
He spent the 2011 season coaching defensive backs at Sipsey Valley High School in Tuscaloosa, where he helped head coach Antonio Ford and the upstart program to the first win in school history.
OVC
REVIEW RECORDS
The son of legendary Gamecock wide receiver Rusty Fuller, who ranks third in career catches and touchdowns and was a member of JSU’s All-Century Team, graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in physical education kinesiology in 2011.
HISTORY
OPPONENTS
Riley Fuller enters his first season as a student assistant at Jacksonville State after one season in the high school ranks. A native of Vestavia Hills, Ala., he has family ties to the program.
Fuller played defensive end for head coach Buddy Anderson at Vestavia Hills, where he lettered three years and started the final two. He was also a four-year letterman for wrestling head coach Steve Gaydosh. He has four nephews, Cole, Caiden, Caleb and Cannon, who enjoys spending his time with.
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2012 Gamecocks Football