The Carolina Panthers dipped into the college ranks to find their linebackers coach.
Steve Russ, Air Force’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, will take over one of the Panthers’ deepest position groups, a league source told the Observer on Friday.
Russ, 45, who played at Air Force in the 1990s, has spent the past six years at his alma mater. He began his full-time coaching career in 2001 at Ohio University, where he worked with Panthers defensive coordinator Eric Washington.
Washington was promoted this week after Steve Wilks left to become the Arizona Cardinals head coach.