Oregon RB coach Ra’Shaad Samples brings Texas ‘tough love’ to Ducks
In the world of college football, recruiting is as important, if not more important, than just about anything else.
To win games, you need winning players, and to get winning players, you need to recruit at a high level. Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks have done this as well as anyone in the nation over the last few years, using close relationships and honesty with players, convincing them to choose what's hard over what's convenient when coming all the way out to Oregon to play college ball and prepare for a potential NFL career.
While many may see a close relationship as helpful for getting players in the door, it's also the foundation for what keeps players coming back. Honesty and tough love are what can turn a good player into a great one and push a talented athlete into a superstar playmaker.
That's something that Oregon running backs' coach Ra'Shaad Samples has brought to the table.
When arriving in Eugene in 2024, Samples served many valuable purposes, but his gravitas in the recruiting world was chief among them. After his playing career at Oklahoma State and Houston, Samples got into coaching, spending time near his home in Texas at SMU before taking up a job with the Los Angeles Rams. He returned to the college level, worked for Kenny Dillingham, and then got a call from Lanning asking him to come to Eugene.
While Samples' coaching history speaks for itself, it's his real history that is valuable here. Ra'Shaad is the son of Reginald Samples, a Dallas-area legend who has coached high school football for more than 35 years and won a pair of Texas 6A state titles. His last decade has been spent at Duncanville, a Texas powerhouse. It was Samples' addition to the staff that helped the Ducks sign 5-star WR Dakorien Moore — who played at Duncanville — and further their recruiting pipeline to the Lone Star State.
Now, though, it's the tough love that Ra'Shaad learned from Reginald that is helping him push the RB room in Eugene forward.
“They're asking, like, how do I balance caring about those guys and holding those guys to a high standard?" Samples said earlier this spring. "And I just told them, ‘Man, it's kind of a tribute to my dad and how I grew up.’ Like, I knew there was love in that household. I knew he loved me. I knew he cared about me, but I mean, how he held me to a standard, how he held me accountable — if you were a stranger watching it, you might not think that guy liked me."
That's how things are starting to take shape inside the Ducks' RB room. With the veteran Noah Whittington off to the league, and true sophomores Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill stepping into an even bigger spotlight after breakout freshman seasons, it's time for a little bit of tough love.
For many coaches, it would be easy to look at the dynamic duo that combined for 1,323 yards and 20 touchdowns last year and let them continue to forge their own path. Samples is digging in, though, knowing that, based on how his father pushed him, he can squeeze more out of these seemingly generational talents.
“He's for sure ramped it up just knowing our room is not as old," Davison said of Samples' tough love. "I want to say he's just been on us hard, trying to make everybody mature sooner.”
"Coach Samp can be very mean at times," Hill laughed. "Some of the new guys that have come in already have asked me the question, ‘Was he this hard on you, too?’ And I just smile. It's just like, ‘Yes, he really is. You wouldn't be here if he wasn't hard on you, you know.’ And he just sees so much potential in us. He pushes us to the mat, he pushes us out of our comfort zone, and that's what we want. You know, coming here to Oregon, that's exactly what we're looking for."
That tough love is a fine balance, though, especially in an era of college football where it's never been easier for a player to pick up and leave should they decide they're unhappy. For Samples, it's about being honest about his intentions, pushing to the point of progress but not past the point of exhaustion.
"Sometimes those guys, they're like, 'Coach, do you not like me?'" Samples said. "And I'm like, 'No, I love you guys, but I've got to hold you to the highest standard, and that's how you show love.’ I think that the best way to show that you love somebody is to hold them to the standard that they want to be held to."
If that means yelling and cursing at times, so be it. In the long run, the end goal remains the same.
“I don't go home and not sleep at night because I think Jordan or Dierre or Dink (Riggs) or Simeon (Price) is mad at me," Samples said. "I don't care. I'm coming back, and I'm gonna do it again, and they know that.”
While Samples is still a young coach, he has earned the respect of his players early on at Oregon to be able to handle his room that way. The running backs have seen what this tough love can do for them, so they're fine with more of it coming on.
“We respect him so much, so we want to go out there and do that, because we know he wants the best for us, so we just try to do that for him," Hill said.
While their careers are still in the early stages, it was clear early on in 2025 that the Ducks had something special with the "Thunder and Lightning" duo of Davison and Hill. With Hill being the perimeter player who thrives in open space, Davison has proven to be a punishing runner between the tackles. As a combo, it's fair to think that they could find a place among the program's greats like LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner, or Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson, should they stay on this trajectory.
They aren't there yet, though, and Samples knows that in order for that level to be reached, they need to be pushed.
"Those two guys tell me they want to be some of the greatest running backs to ever come through here," Samples said. "I said, ‘Well, if I love you, then I hold you to the standard of that. Every single day and every single thing you do.’ That's how I was raised.”
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Ducks RB coach Ra’Shaad Samples ups ‘tough love’ approach
