Kevin Downing enters his fourth season as the defensive ends coach at Kennesaw State in 2018 after being hired by head coach Brian Bohannon on February 3, 2014.
Downing has mentored two back-to-back All-Big South performers in Desmond Johnson and Tonarius Portress. Over the past two seasons, the duo has combined for 13 of the Owls’ 53 sacks and totaled 33.5 tackles for loss.
Downing spent four years as an assistant at Elon where he coached the defensive ends (2010) and wide receivers (2011-13).
While serving as Elon’s wide receivers coach, Downing helped guide one of the top Football Bowl Championship (FCS) Division’s talents in Aaron Mellette. In 2011, Mellette set an Elon and Southern Conference record with 1,639 receiving yards and led all of the FCS in both receptions per game (10.27) and receiving yards per game (149.00) on his way to being named to seven All-American squads and finishing fifth in the voting for the 2010 Walter Payton Award, the top individual honor at the FCS level. Phoenix receivers accounted for an average of 281.45 yards per game in 2011.
Downing helped Mellette again lead the SoCon in receiving in 2012 as the senior caught 97 passes for 1,398 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was named to numerous All-America squads and placed eighth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award. Mellette became Elon’s first representative in the prestigious Senior Bowl and was 2013 a seventh-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens.
Before his time with the Phoenix, Downing spent four years (2006-09) as recruiting coordinator/wide receivers and defensive backs coach at Winston-Salem State University. An Edenton, N.C. native, Downing worked with the Rams’ defensive backs and safeties before serving as wide receivers coach for his final three years.
Downing is a 2004 graduate of North Carolina Central University where he played football in 2001 and 2002. During the 2001 campaign, Downing played a key role in helping the Eagles’ defense become the top-rated unit at the NCAA Division II level. He earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education in 2004.
Downing and his wife, Nia, have three children, Kevin, Jr., Kailey and Kaiden.
