Last Updated on December 25, 2024 10:47 am
BOONE, N.C. — App State Football head coach Dowell Loggains announced Thursday the hiring of Riley Watkins as an offensive assistant coach.
Watkins has worked on SEC staffs at Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina during the last four seasons. He has spent the previous two seasons as an offensive graduate assistant working with quarterbacks and wide receivers at South Carolina, where Loggains was the offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2024.
“Riley has been a huge part of our offensive success at both South Carolina and Arkansas,” Loggains said. “We’re excited for him to join our staff and to welcome him and his wife, Kaylee, to App State.”
Loggains and Watkins also worked together at Arkansas in 2021, when Watkins was an offensive/recruiting undergraduate assistant. He was an offensive quality control coach at Missouri with former App State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz in 2022.
“I’m really excited to join the App State staff with Coach Loggains. He is a great man and a great offensive mind. I have so much respect for the history and tradition of the App State program. My wife, Kaylee, and I are excited to get here. I’m ready to get to work and compete for more championships here on the mountain.”
With Loggains and Watkins on the same offensive staff at South Carolina, wide receiver and future NFL first-round pick Xavier Legette teamed with future NFL quarterback Spencer Rattler in 2023 to form one of the most lethal pass-and-catch combinations in the country. Legette was a first-team All-SEC performer and third-team All-American during a season in which he caught 71 passes for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns.
In 2024, 15th-ranked South Carolina ended the regular season with top-50 national rankings in scoring, yardage, first downs and completion percentage. LaNorris Sellers turned into one of college football's most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks, with 10 players having at least one receiving touchdown.
Missouri averaged 214.1 passing yards per game in 2022, with Brady Cook throwing to the likes of Dominic Lovett (846 receiving yards) and Luther Burden (six receiving touchdowns).
Arkansas finished the 2021 season with final rankings of No. 20 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the AP Top 25 thanks to a 9-4 record that included an Outback Bowl win against Penn State.
A native of Republic, Missouri, Watkins was an all-region performer at Republic High School before spending time as a quarterback, running back and tight end at Pittsburg State in Kansas. He graduated from Pittsburg State in 2022 and has a wife, Kaylee.
WATKINS AT A GLANCE
Coaching Experience
2021: Arkansas (Offensive/recruiting undergraduate assistant)
2022: Missouri (Quality control – offense)
2023-24: South Carolina (Graduate assistant – offense)
Playing Experience
2018-20: Pittsburg State (Quarterback, running back, tight end)
Alma Mater: Pittsburg State, 2022
Hometown: Republic, Mo.
Wife: Kaylee
Bowls Coached
2021: Outback
2022: Gasparilla
