BENICIA, Calif. — During a recent Benicia High School football practice, quarterback Elijah Nelson throws a touchdown pass and C.J. Anderson raises his arms in celebration.

“Like taking candy from a baby,’’ Anderson yells. “I called a good play.”

Soon, there is another touchdown pass and Anderson again celebrates.

“I called another good play,’’ he says with a laugh.

The energetic Anderson, a former Broncos 1,000-yard running back, is clearly having fun in his new job as head coach at Benicia, a school in the North Bay region 35 miles north of San Francisco.

Anderson, 34, was named the Panthers’ head coach in February, their fourth one in four years. He is trying resurrect a once-proud program that has had three straight losing seasons while going 9-23 during that span.

“I’d say shambles,’’ Anderson said of the state of the program when he took over. “It’s a challenging job. … But we’ve got some talented players, although we are young.”

After being undrafted out of California, Anderson played in the NFL from 2013-19, including 2013-17 with Denver, where he became a fan favorite. He played in Super Bowls with the Broncos in the 2013 and 2015 seasons and with the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 season, being on the winning side in the second one with Denver. In the Broncos’ 24-10 win over Carolina in Super Bowl 50, he rushed for 90 yards and scored their only offensive touchdown.

Anderson, listed at 5-foot-8, 225 pounds, rushed for a career-high 1,007 yards in 2017, but was released after the season in a salary-related move. He finished his NFL career over the next two seasons with the Carolina Panthers, Rams and Detroit Lions, finishing with 3,497 yards rushing.

Anderson then went into coaching. He served as a California volunteer assistant in 2020, was head coach of Monte Vista High School in Danville, Calif., in 2021 and was running backs coach at Rice in 2022

Anderson then took time off from coaching to finish his degree in interdisciplinary studies at California, which he received in May. By then, he had taken the job at Benicia, which he considers a homecoming. Anderson is a native of Vallejo and starred at Jesse M. Bethel High School, which is five miles from Benicia High.

“This is home for me,’’ Anderson said. “My mother (Neva Craig) is head of food services for the Benicia School District. Her office is right here (at Benicia High), so it’s like I’m working with my mom and my little brother (Panthers wide receiver coach K’Lan Anderson, 31) is on our staff. I think it’s pretty cool.”

With Anderson back in the area, there has been a buzz surrounding the program.

“There is a lot of energy from all over the 707 area code,’’ said defensive coordinator Brandon Edwards. “There are a lot of potential eyes, a lot of focus on us. (Anderson) brings a lot of knowledge, a lot of connections and a lot of resources and the players can learn from a guy that actually has been to the pinnacle of the sport.”

Anderson said his long-term goal is to be an NFL or college head coach, but for now he is committed to building up the Panthers. He has reached out to a number of current and former coaches for advice, including former Broncos coaches Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips. Among the many former Broncos he has talked to for position tips are quarterback Peyton Manning, edge rusher Von Miller and defensive backs Champ Bailey, Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr.

Manning has done more than just offer football advice; he has opened his wallet. After being hired, Anderson began a fundraising drive to get more equipment for the program.

“(Manning) gave me a nice donation and the NFL, they matched that nice donation,’’ Anderson said.

Anderson wouldn’t say how much Manning gave but said the program has received about $45,000 in donations since he was hired and the goal is to raise $70,000. The money raised so far has helped in the purchasing of helmets, jerseys, shoulder pads and other equipment.

“It’s kind of cool, the equipment that Peyton Manning helped us with,’’ Nelson said.

“We’ve got throwing nets to help our accuracy. We never had those before.”

Nelson is battling fellow sophomore Preston Wright to be the starting quarterback for Benicia’s opener Aug. 27 at Rodriguez High School in nearby Fairfield. The quarterbacks are two of the many young players in the program Anderson is excited about.

Another is junior defensive tackle Kareem Washington, whom Anderson said is developing into a top Division I recruit.

“It’s like we have new coaches every year,’’ Washington said of the program. “When (Anderson) came here, we were all happy. He’s going to change the program and make us better hopefully.”

Some players on the team had met Anderson nine years before he took the job. Senior running back Thomas Jouvenot-Sells and senior receiver Reese Paramo remember Anderson coming to Benicia’s Robert Semple Elementary School when they were in the second grade in 2016 and showing off his Super Bowl 50 ring.

“I remember him high-fiving all the kids and he handed out autograph cards and stuff,’’ Jouvenot-Sells said. “It was pretty dope.”

And now Anderson is the Panthers’ coach.

“I feel like people are going to respect us more now that he’s our coach,’’ Jouvenot-Sells said. “We used to get disrespected a lot. Our football program was a joke and now he’s like turning it around.”

The Panthers have been practicing all summer, first donning pads Aug. 11. Anderson has fun at times with his players on the field, but has been stressing discipline and fundamentals.

“We’re trying to teach young men that this game can change your life,’’ Anderson said. “If these kids want to play at the next level, whether it’s Division I or lower, they’ve got to be dedicated and get work done, and having somebody who has done it and who can push them through and let them know what it takes is a big help.”

After rushing for nearly 4,000 yards in high school, Anderson spent two seasons at Laney (Calif.) Junior College and two at California. He averaged 6.3 yards per carry while rushing for 790 yards for the Bears in 2012, but still went undrafted in 2013.

After making the Broncos as a free agent, Anderson played sparingly as a rookie, including making a brief appearance in their 43-8 loss to Seattle in Super Bowl XLVIII. But he made the Pro Bowl while rushing for 849 yards in 2014. Then he had 720 yards rushing in 2015 and came up big in Super Bowl 50, played 70 miles south of his native Vallejo at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

“Obviously, winning a Super Bowl after coming in as an undrafted kid (was a career highlight),’’ said Anderson, whose 2-yard run with 3:08 left in the game gave the Broncos an insurmountable 24-10 lead. “And to do it not far from my hometown was awesome.”

After that season, the Broncos matched a four-year, $18 million offer sheet Miami made on Anderson as a restricted free agent. He then rushed for 437 yards during an injury-riddled 2016 season before following that up with his 1,000-yard campaign.

But Anderson was released in April 2018 when the Broncos sought to cut costs. They soon found another undrafted running back to carry the load in former Colorado star Phillip Lindsay, who ran for 1,000 yards in his first two seasons.

“Money, man,’’ Anderson said of his release. “I was too expensive. I was due to make $6.5 million (salary-cap number). You know how the running back position is. I understood. … The only thing I wish they would have done differently is I wish they offered me a pay cut. I would have taken a pay cut. I would have taken a $2 million cut. … I didn’t want to leave.

“I had come out of the middle of nowhere (being undrafted) and I made a home in Denver and we had fun. … I became a fan favorite. I loved my time in Denver, for sure.”

Anderson hasn’t been back to Denver since he was released, but plans to return when the Broncos hold a 10-year reunion for the Super Bowl 50 team when they face the New York Giants on Oct. 19 at Empower Field at Mile High.

Anderson said a blessing in disguise at being let go by the Broncos was ending up with the Rams and making his third Super Bowl appearance in a 13-3 loss to New England Patriots. Earlier in those 2018 playoffs, he had rushed for a postseason career-high 123 yards in the Rams’ 30-22 win over Dallas in an NFC divisional game.

After his playing career ended following a limited role with the Lions in 2019, Anderson plunged into coaching. He became a head coach for the first time at Monte Vista High in 2021, leading the Mustangs to an 8-3 record.

Anderson then moved on to Rice for one season. After that, with the plan to one day become a college head coach, he figured he needed to complete his college degree.

So there Anderson was back on campus at California. Some students knew he once had played football, but most didn’t.

“I wasn’t getting hounded every day,’’ he said with a laugh. “I pretty much was incognito in how I moved.”

Eventually, though, Anderson became more recognizable when he had a show-and-tell session. He brought in his California ring from 2011 when the Bears won the Holiday Bowl, his 2013 AFC championship ring, his 2015 Super Bowl ring and his 2018 NFC championship ring to show teachers and students. He said the reaction was “pretty cool.”

Now, Anderson hopes to add another ring to his collection.

“The goal is we want to win a state title, for sure,’’ he said.

But there is plenty of work to do. Not long after Anderson celebrated a pair of touchdowns in the recent practice, there were two dropped balls by receivers.

“Somebody, somebody,’’ Anderson yelled in disgust while urging his receivers to make a play.