Until the 2024 Senior Bowl, Mike Tomlin hadn’t met TCU offensive lineman Brandon Coleman. But he already knew the Coleman family well.
Coleman’s father and Tomlin grew up together in Virginia. And though it’s not clear if the two have kept in touch over the years, Tomlin made sure to meet his son this week. Interviewed by College 2 Pro reporter Bo Marchionte, Tomlin greeted Coleman with a handshake after 1v1 reps not to just congratulate him on a solid session but to know the Coleman son, not just the Coleman father.
“That was about him and my dad,” Coleman told Marchionte. “They go way back. Him and my dad all knew each other way back in high school. So he just came up, wanted to finally meet me, wanted to see how my dad and family was.”
Tomlin is a Hampton Roads native, staying local and playing college football at William & Mary before embarking on his coaching career. Coleman was born in Virginia, too, though his father was in the military, leading them to move to Germany early in his life, he told The Frogs of War podcast in July of 2023.
“My mom’s from Germany,” he said on the show. “She was born and raised there. They met over there. I was born in Virginia, that’s where my dad’s from. And then we just moved back a couple months [after I was born] and stayed there.”
Coleman’s father played high school football and even a little bit in a European league, though he was primarily a track and field athlete. Eventually, the Coleman family moved back to the states in 2016, relocating to Texas. He was given a two-week trial run at quarterback but knowing nothing about the game and given his size, weighing in at 6042, 316 pounds this week in Mobile, he quickly moved to the trenches.
It wasn’t the last move he’d make. After getting past wrist surgery early in his TCU career, he played left guard as a redshirt sophomore, starting seven games at left guard and one game, his first, at right guard. After Obinna Eze graduated following the 2021 season, Coleman moved out to left tackle, a rare instance of a guard kicking to tackle. But he proved he could do it as the Horned Frogs made it all the way to the National Title game, upsetting Michigan along the way, before falling to Georgia. He admitted the weight of the moment might’ve impacted the team, himself included, saying they got “caught up” in the moment that led to an ugly blowout loss.
He continued playing left tackle in 2023 but also logged four starts at left guard, proving his versatility. Now, he’s center stage at the biggest pre-draft All-Star game of the year.
For Coleman, his life has been all about moving. There’s one more in store, the move from college to the NFL. Projected as a current fourth round pick, he’ll be playing football somewhere this fall. Maybe in Pittsburgh, where Tomlin can say hello to his dad and NFL son.
