Former Broad Run player Larry Izzo named Commanders' special teams coordinator

The Washington Commanders have hired a special teams coordinator who played two seasons of high school football just a few miles from the team's training facility in Ashburn.

Multiple outlets on Friday afternoon reported that the NFL team has hired Larry Izzo to lead its special teams. He will join new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and new defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. as the top assistants to new head coach Dan Quinn.

According to his Wikipedia page, Izzo, 49, was born on Fort Belvoir and attended Broad Run High School in Ashburn for his freshman and sophomore years. He started as a linebacker and running back and was the first sophomore in school history to lead the team in rushing yards and touchdowns.

His family then moved to Texas, where Izzo starred at McCullough High School in The Woodlands. He attended Rice University, where he played linebacker and was named to the All-Southwest Conference first team as a senior.

Izzo was not drafted in the 1996 NFL Draft but signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent and became a special teams star, making his first Pro Bowl in 2000. He then signed with the New England Patriots in 2001, played on three of the Patriots' Super Bowl championship teams as a special-teamer and was selected to two more Pro Bowls. He appeared in 108 consecutive games with the Patriots.

He finished his NFL career with the New York Jets in 2009, when he suffered a spine injury.

Izzo became an assistant special teams coach for the New York Giants in 2011 and then moved to the Houston Texans in 2016 as special teams coordinator. In 2018, he was hired by the Seattle Seahawks as assistant special teams coach and was promoted to coordinator in 2021.

Izzo will be the second Commanders coach or player with ties to an Ashburn high school. Star defensive tackle Jonathan Allen graduated from Stone Bridge High School, Broad Run's rival.