Telly Lockette

Biography

Telly Lockette joins Memphis after one season at Southern Miss as the running backs coach. Helping to turn a 1-11 Golden Eagle team into a 7-5 bowl eligible team, Lockette saw his running back room put up an average of 137.4 yards per game during the 2025 season. Southern Miss put up 150+ rushing yards in four games while racking up a season-best 225 yards on the ground in its 42-25 win over Jacksonville State. Jeffery Pittman led the charge for the Golden Eagles with eight scores on the ground – good for ninth best in the Sun Belt – and 65.0 rushing yards per game – the seventh best in the conference. Lockette came to Southern Miss after working four years on the Marshall staff serving as the run game coordinator and running backs coach. In 2024, Lockette helped lead a Herd rushing attack that registered 201.7 yards per game, which ranked No. 19 nationally. He mentored running back Khalan Laborn in 2023, who had been away from the game for nearly 18 months. Laborn returned with a vengeance under Lockette’s teachings, finishing the season in the top 10 in FBS in rushing yards (1,513, 10th) and rushing TDs (16, 10th) – both of which led the Sun Belt Conference. Lockette also coached running back Rasheen Ali, who battled back to become a major contributor late in 2022 after missing the first eight games of the season due to injury, and currently plays for the Baltimore Ravens. Under Lockette’s guidance, Ali led all FBS running backs in rushing touchdowns (23) in 2021 while amas