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Tashard Choice: I Have to Be 'Harder' on RB Jahmyr Gibbs
Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26), left, and running back David Montgomery (5) record a video Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tashard Choice: I Have to Be 'Harder' on RB Jahmyr Gibbs

Originally posted on Detroit Lions on SI  |  By Vito Chirco  |  Last updated May 20, 2025 10:04 AM ET

The Detroit Lions hired former Texas Longhorns running backs coach Tashard Choice to serve as the new leader of their talented backfield.

Choice has plenty of familiarity with several members of the organization. He's best friends with defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, and coached standout running back Jahmyr Gibbs in college at Georgia Tech.

Now, in his first year coaching at the NFL ranks, Choice is pledging to be an even tougher coach for Gibbs in an effort to get the absolute best out of the young star.

“To see him progress, to see how smart he is, he’s one of the smartest running backs I’ve ever coached. He’s a natural football player," Choice explained to reporters. "You tell him something, he understands it; he gets it right now. You don’t have to coach him over and over again on football stuff. It’s easy to him. So having the opportunity to get around him now coaching, I’m going to be harder on him even more.

"I tell him all day, like, Zero, he can’t do anything right on the field, but Jahmyr Gibbs I love. Same thing with David Montgomery. When they’re on the football field, they’re the player, not the person. I’m coaching them to get better.”

During the past two NFL seasons, Gibbs and Montgomey have become one of the most formidable tandems in the league.

Gibbs, who was drafted 12th overall in 2023, had a breakout season in 2024. He ran for 1,412 yards, scoring 16 touchdowns in the process. In two seasons, he has logged 2,357 rushing yards and 26 scores in addition to contributing 104 catches and 833 yards as a receiver out of the backfield.

Montgomery has proven to be the thunder to Gibbs' lightning, as he operates with a powerful running style. After surpassing 1,000 rushing yards in 2023, he finished with 775 yards last season and missed the final three regular season games with an injury.

Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders even believes the duo can lead the offense to a Lombardi Trophy.

Gibbs was on Choice's radar early in the recruiting process. A natural athlete, some college coaches believed he was destined for a career as a defensive back.

However, Choice always saw his potential and was relieved that he wouldn't have to recruit against those who saw the talented youngster as primarily a defender. He made it his mission to get him to Georgia Tech and unlock the explosive potential he saw.

Choice shared, “When I saw Jah first play in person, me and my friend go up to a game and he ran the first run and my friend just did me like this in the crowd, like ‘Get out of here.’ And I kept looking at other running backs, and it’s like, ‘Nah, none of them’s better than him.’ When you see a running back and you know he’s a dude, it don’t take you long."

Detroit's newest running backs coach discovered pretty quickly the special talent he was coaching at the collegiate level and what he could accomplish as a running back.

"It ain’t like you got to watch a movie and it’s the Titanic and you got to wait till the water comes. Uh-uh. Right off the top, you know it’s coming, so it’s like when I saw him, you knew it," said Choice. "The schools that wanted him as a DB, I was so happy I didn’t have to go against them. I’m at Georgia Tech, I didn’t have to recruit against them. But to understand, to see it, you could just see how he worked, and the fact that he could play DB let you know his movement.

"We put him on punt team; he could be a gunner. I saw it at Georgia Tech. He was a really, really good athlete, and he just loved football. But when you watched him, his ability to make people miss, to see the field, to make the second and third defender miss without even looking at him, those are qualities I learned from high-ranking people that recruit and draft guys.”

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This article first appeared on Detroit Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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