Brandon Torrey - Football Coach - Central Michigan University Athletics

Brandon Torrey

Title:
Tight Ends/Tackles
E-Mail Address:
torre1be@cmich.edu
Phone:
(989) 774-3896
Year at CMU:
2nd year at CMU
Hometown:
Durham, N.C.
Alma Mater/Year:
Howard/2015
Experience:
9th year

Five-year National Football League veteran Brandon Torrey enters his second year with the Central Michigan Football Program as its tight ends/offensive tackles coach.

In his first year at Central Michigan, offensive tackle Brayden Swartout earned Second Team All-MAC honors and his tight end group combined for 16 receptions for 163 yards and three receiving touchdowns.

Torrey arrived at Central Michigan after spending one year at his alma mater Howard University, where he served as the offensive line coach in 2022. In his one season at Howard, he helped lead the Bison to a share of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference regular season championship with a 4-1 conference record. Three of his offensive linemen earned All-MEAC honors.

In 2015, Torrey began his coaching career after playing five seasons in the NFL as he joined the Howard coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Then, in 2016 he was elevated to the Bison offensive line coach. During the 2016 season, the Howard offensive line helped produce the school’s first 1,000-yard runner in more than a decade, and set the school’s single-game record for rushing yards.

Torrey coached the tight ends at Monroe Junior College in New York from 2017-18, where he produced two All-Americans. In addition, he assisted with the Mustangs’ special teams, leading the kickoff return unit to a No. 2 national ranking in 2018.

Torrey accepted the offensive line coaching job at Norfolk State University in 2019. In his first year, he produced three all-conference players on the offensive line. Later under his leadership, he helped NSU set the school’s single-season scoring record, averaging 28.9 points overall and 31.8 points per game in MEAC play. The Spartans also averaged a season-high 144.7 rushing yards per game, the third-highest mark in the MEAC and the most by a Spartan team since 2011. That season also included three games with over 200 rushing yards, along with a season-high 272 against Howard, the most rushing yards in a single game by a Spartan squad since 2010. In 2021, Torrey’s offensive line developed four first team all-conference players with only two starters returning from the previous season. In addition, he produced only the second All-American offensive lineman in school history, the MEAC Lineman of the Year, and mentored a group that blocked for the longest rushing touchdown in school history.

During three years in a Bison uniform from 2001-04, Torrey was a three-time First Team All-MEAC selection, Second Team All-American, and was recognized as one of the nation’s top-10 guards in NCAA Division I-AA. In 2004, Torrey was named the Metropolitan Player of the Year by the Pig Skin Club and was chosen to represent Howard in the inaugural HBCU All-Star Classic. Nicknamed “the Franchise,” he also set a school record for most consecutive starts.

Before moving into coaching, Torrey played seven total seasons of professional football, including stints with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers (2006-07), Arizona Cardinals (2007), New York Giants (2008), and Oakland Raiders (2008-09). He was also a member of the Super Bowl XLII champion Giants team that defeated the unbeaten New England Patriots. Torrey also played for the Cologne Centurions (2006) and Las Vegas Locomotives (2011).

A native of Durham, N.C., Torrey returned to Howard in 2015 to earn his bachelor’s degree in sociology.

THE TORREY FILE

Hometown: Durham, N.C.

Education
Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, Howard University, 2015

Coaching Career
Tight Ends, Offensive Tackles Coach, Central Michigan University, 2023-current
Offensive Line Coach, Howard University, 2022
Offensive Line Coach, Norfolk State University, 2019-21
Tight Ends Coach, Monroe College, 2017-18
Offensive Line Coach, Howard University, 2016
Volunteer Assistant Coach, Howard University, 2015

Playing Career
Played seven total years of professional football, including five seasons in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, and New York Giants … Earned a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants in 2008 … Three-year letterman at Howard as an offensive guard from 2001-04 … Second Team All-American as a senior … Three-year First Team All-MEAC honoree … Recognized as one of the top-10 guards in the nation in NCAA Division I-AA.