The Indianapolis Colts have officially announced their coaching staff under the new head coach, Shane Steichen.
There were some previously unannounced additions on the press release and one of those is Steichen’s assistant for the upcoming season, TJ Ingels.
Here are a few things to know about him:
1
Started career in college
Ingels began his football career while he was in college attending the University of Wisconsin. He was a student assistant for the football team between 2006-2010 and four of those seasons were spent as the team’s head offensive student manager.
He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Business Management during his time at Wisconsin.
2
Previous NFL experience
It was just for two seasons, but Ingels has NFL experience working as an intern for the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 and 2012 in their equipment division.
3
Apparently he is pretty good at snapping the ball
Former Wisconsin quarterback turned into a writer for The Athletic, Nate Tice, gave credit to Ingels for his snapping ability.
props to all of the equipment guys that are the Centers for all of Indy and 7 on 7 (@TJIngels). Hundreds of perfect snaps every day with zero upside to the gig. https://t.co/Ti0rR7j9Mh
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) August 2, 2020
haha there is a little bit, especially if the guy is new. Equipment guys for the most part are fantastic snappers, though (shoutout @TJIngels). Some teams have the equipment guy actually snap it like a Center, too.
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) August 4, 2021
While I am sure he was brought on to do more than snap a ball to the quarterback, I thought this was a nice little nugget on Ingels.
4
Rest of college football career
After his time spent as an intern with the 49ers, he joined North Carolina as an offensive graduate season assistant in 2013 and eventually took over as the Director of Recruiting Operations. That stint only lasted for one season after he took a Director of Football operations role with the University of Pittsburgh.
He joined former Badgers head coach, Paul Chryst, at Pittsburgh. Ingels would follow him after Chryst got the Wisconsin job in 2015 for the same role. That is where he has spent the last eight years until taking this job with the Colts.