Football
- Title:
- Wide Receivers
- Email:
- football@usc.edu
- Phone:
- (213) 740-4204
Former standout USC and NFL wide receiver Keary Colbert has spent 3 years on USC’s fulltime staff. He became the wide receivers coach in 2019 after handling the tight ends and inside receivers in 2018. He was named to the fulltime staff in January of 2018.
In 2020, he was named a finalist for FootballScoop.com Wide Receivers Coach of the Year. Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown made All-Pac-12 first team, while Tyler Vaughns and Drake London were All-Pac-12 second teamers. Vaughns finished third on USC’s career receptions list and St. Brown was 11th.
In 2019, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who won the 2019 Pop Warner College Football Award and was a finalist for the Biletnikoff and Witten Awards, was in the national Top 20 in receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs. He caught 101 passes with 11 touchdowns (he was an NFL Draft second round pick), while fellow wideouts Amon-Ra St. Brown (77 catches) and Tyler Vaughns (74 catches) each had 6 TDs. True freshman wide receiver emerged in the second half of the season, ending with 39 receptions and 5 TDs (1 in each of the final 5 games).
In 2018, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown became just the fourth USC true freshman to lead the Trojans in season receptions (60).
Colbert, 38, spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as USC's offensive quality control assistant, working with the wide receivers the first year and the tight ends the next season. USC's wideouts caught 230 passes with 24 touchdowns in 2016, with JuJu Smith-Schuster getting 70 receptions for 914 yards and 10 touchdowns that season before playing in the NFL. USC's tight ends had 37 catches and 5 touchdowns in 2017.
Colbert was an offensive analyst at Alabama during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, helping the Crimson Tide win the 2015 national championship.
He was the wide receivers coach at Georgia State in 2013. Wide receiver Albert Wilson was a 1,000-yard pass catcher in 2013; both Wilson and fellow wideout Robert Davis played in the NFL.
In 2012, Colbert was a volunteer coach at Pace Academy in Atlanta (Ga.).
Colbert spent the 2010 season as a graduate assistant at USC, working with the tight ends. Five tight ends on the Trojan roster that year played in the NFL (Jordan Cameron, Rhett Ellison, David Ausberry, Xavier Grimble and Randall Telfer).
Colbert started 4 years (2000-03) at wide receiver at USC. He set the since-broken USC all-time receptions record (207) while gaining 2,964 receiving yards and catching 19 touchdown passes in his career. He caught a pass in his last 36 games and had 6 career 100-yard receiving games. The Trojans captured the national championship in 2003 and won the 2003 Orange Bowl and 2004 Rose Bowl. As a 2003 senior, he was a team captain, won USC's Most Inspirational Award, earned All-Pac-10 second team honors and was selected to play in the Senior Bowl after catching 69 passes for 1,013 yards with 9 TDs. He caught 2 touchdowns in the 2004 Rose Bowl. As a 2002 junior, he had 71 catches for 1,029 yards with 5 TDs and was named All-Pac-10 second team and USC's Bob Chandler Award winner. He and teammate Mike Williams tied an NCAA record in 2002 and again in 2003 for teammates both having 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He added 34 receptions for 442 yards and 2 TDs as a 2001 sophomore and 33 catches for 480 yards with 3 scores as a 2000 freshman.
He was drafted in the second round of the 2004 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers and spent the next 5 years (2004-08) in the NFL. He was with the Panthers for the first 4 of those seasons (2004-07), where he started 45 of the 58 games he played (including his first 34) and caught 112 passes for 1,464 yards and 7 TDs (with a pair of 100-yard games). He set Carolina rookie season records for receptions (47), receiving yards (754) and receiving touchdowns (5) in 2004. He helped the Panthers reach the 2005 NFC Championship game, catching 25 passes for 282 yards and 2 scores that season. After grabbing 5 passes for 56 yards in 2006, he added 32 receptions for 332 yards in 2007.
He spent 2008 with 3 teams, the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks (7 catches, 52 yards, 1 TD with 4 starts) and Detroit Lions (5 catches, 64 yards with 3 starts). He was with the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League in 2009. In 2011, he played for the Kansas City Chiefs.
He was a prep All-American at Hueneme High in Oxnard (Calif.), where he also was on the track team.
He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from USC in 2006.
Colbert was born May 21, 1982. He is married and his wife's name is Safiya. He has 2 sons, Kaden, 12, and Khari, 2. Among his cousins are former USC wide receiver Earl McCullouch (1967), who played in the NFL with the Detroit Lions (1968-73) and New Orleans Saints (1974) and also ran track at USC (wining a pair of NCAA high hurdles titles and leading off the 1967 world record-setting NCAA champion sprint relay team), former Arizona State defensive lineman Tommie Townsend (1999-2001), who also attended USC, Clarence Oliver (a defensive back at San Diego State in 1967-68 and in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Cardinals), Josh Oliver (a tight end at San Jose State in 2015-18 now with the Jacksonville Jaguars), major league infielder/outfielder Bob Oliver (1965-75) and major league pitcher Darren Oliver (1993-2013).
FAMILY: Wife, Safiya; Son, Kaden, 12, and Khari, 2
HIGH SCHOOL: Hueneme HS, Oxnard, Calif.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, sociology, USC, 2006
PLAYING EXPERIENCE: Hueneme HS, Oxnard, Calif.
USC, wide receiver, 2000-03
Carolina Panthers, wide receiver, 2004-07
Denver Broncos, wide receiver, 2008
Seattle Seahawks, wide receiver, 2008
Detroit Lions, wide receiver, 2008
Florida Tuskers, wide receiver, 2009
Kansas City Chiefs, wide receiver, 2011
COACHING EXPERIENCE: 9 years
| YEAR | TEAM | POSITION | BOWL |
| 2010 | USC | Graduate Assistant | -- |
| 2012 | Pace Academy | Volunteer Coach | -- |
| 2013 | Georgia State | Wide Receivers | -- |
| 2014 | Alabama | Offensive Analyst | Sugar |
| 2015 | Alabama | Offensive Analyst | Cotton, CFP NC |
| 2016 | USC | Offensive Quality Control | Rose |
| 2017 | USC | Offensive Quality Control | Cotton |
| 2018 | USC | Tight Ends/Inside Receivers | -- |
| 2019 | USC | Wide Receivers | Holiday |
| 2020 | USC | Wide Receivers | -- |
