Jourdan McNeill can't help but put himself in his former coach's shoes.
In 2016, McNeill was the starting running back at East Texas Baptist University. He ran for 819 yards and 16 touchdowns under the tutelage of current Southern Miss interim coach Scotty Walden. At the time, Walden was in his first year as a head coach at just 26 years old, leading a team that had three 26-year-old players on roster.
McNeill is now the running backs coach at Belhaven, the Division III school in Jackson. When I interviewed him to learn a few stories about Walden, McNeill mentioned that he was a month and a day away from his own 26th birthday.