Faulk expected to land Southern job, sources say

Colorado running backs coach Marshall Faulk, the Pro and College Football Hall of Famer, is expected to become the head coach at Southern University, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

Faulk, a New Orleans native, will return to his home state following his first season coaching college football, where he worked at Colorado under fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Southern, an HBCU school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, fired coach Terrence Graves last month following a 1-6 start.

The 52-year-old Faulk won NFL MVP honors in 2000, was named NFL offensive player of the year three times and made seven Pro Bowls. He had 12,279 career rushing yards and 100 touchdowns, and was a 2011 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Faulk also was a two-time All-America running back at San Diego State and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

In August, Faulk told ESPN why he elected to enter college coaching after being asked to do so several times following his playing career. He spent time working as an analyst for NFL Network until 2017.

"I've been offered jobs," Faulk said. "If it wasn't for Coach Prime, I would not even try this. This wasn't even on my list of things to do in the least way. I put crazy hours in when I played, like player and coach's hours in, to become the student of the game that I was. And when I walked away from it, I couldn't believe how much time I invested into the game."

Colorado finishes its season Saturday at Kansas State.

WAFB television first reported Southern's expected hire of Faulk.