Underrated/under-the-radar College Coaches

 Hello all,

This is just a general blog of content I'll be posting and writing in until I get a site to write for full-time. 


For this first piece, I wanted to take a look at some up-and-coming or underrated college coaches (head and positional) that I feel like don't get enough credit or recognition. I felt inspired by this tweet from PFF_College and wanted to just type out my thoughts on some guys.  


There's no specific order to these coaches' names, I'm just going from HC-OC-DC-Positional coaches in here with a little bit of analysis underneath. I tried to limit some of the "bigger" schools' coaches, but there are a couple that will fall into that group. There were a few names I left off like Will Healy and Bill Clark due to their recognition. A couple of coaches like WMU's Tim Lester and North Texas's Seth Littrell that have some significant issues gave me pause on adding them despite successful numbers. 

Let's get started!

Head Coaches:

Sean Lewis, Kent State

    For those of you who have followed me on Twitter for a while or spoken to me personally, you'll recognize this name. I can't shut up about Sean Lewis and how good of a coach I think he is. He's the youngest Head Coach in the FBS, beating Lincoln Riley's old mark. He's engineered one of the top offenses in college football over the last few seasons and has started producing NFL talent. Do you know how hard it is to do that at Kent State? 


    Kent State was a nightmare of a program before he got there. They have only had five winning seasons in the last 43 years. They couldn't recruit from the state of Ohio, and the AD would tell every coach just *how bad* the situation was when they interviewed. Now, under Sean Lewis, they have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 70s, a bowl win, a quarterback that has NFL attention, and one of the most exciting offenses in college football. Kent State finished first in scoring offense last season, fourth in yards per play, third in 3rd down conversion %, 11th in Football Outsiders Offensive F+ rankings, 4th in Football Outsiders OFEI rankings, and 2nd in Offensive Efficiency (behind Alabama). As a bonus, the roster now boasts 28 in-state recruits. 


    Lewis faces his toughest season yet in 2021 however. Kent State travels on the road to Texas A&M, Iowa, and Maryland in three of their first four games, a far cry from getting to play Akron and Bowling Green. However, the team returns their entire starting offensive line and QB Dustin Crum to run the #1 scoring offense in 2020. Lewis knows a thing or two about pulling off an unexpected upset, as he was the orchestrator of Syracuse's surprise upset win over Clemson just a few years ago.  


Jason Candle, Toledo


    Sticking with another MAC coach in Ohio, I'm flipping over to the other side of the conference. After taking over after Matt Campbell's departure, Candle has gone an impressive 38-21 over the last five seasons and has put Toledo atop the MAC. Since his tenure began, Toledo has had six players drafted into the NFL and has 11 players on NFL teams (as of this writing). Toledo did not have a single player drafted from 2008 until the 2017 NFL Draft when Kareem Hunt went in the third round. 


    Candle has led some productive offenses while at Toledo, including a 2020 season where the Rockets finished t-26th in OFEI and 31st in Offensive Efficiency and finished 13th in the country in total yards per game. They are out-recruiting the entirety of the MAC with 5 straight recruiting classes at the top of the recruiting class. Candle also hired a couple of ascending coaches that I'll get into later on in this piece. 


    His biggest challenge in 2021 is figuring out his quarterback situation, given Eli Peters's unfortunate medical retirement. Fortunately, Toledo is stacked on both sides of the ball due to Candle's efforts as a recruiter and developer. The Rockets return all five starters, including center Bryce Harris and right tackle Nick Rosi who are multi-time All-MAC OL. RB Bryant Koback returns with his 30 career touchdowns, as well as all three starting receivers, including Isaiah Winstead, who looks poised to be the next NFL WR the team produces. 


    The defense has been a bit of a struggle for Toledo over the years, but they enjoyed success in 2020 thanks to a couple of new hires Candle made (more on them later). They have a pretty tough matchup going on the road to South Bend against Notre Dame, but they have the pieces to potentially compete. Another year of success should put Candle in the mix for some "higher up" jobs. Their game vs Ball State this year will be must-see TV. 


Brent Brennan, San Jose State


    Looking at the overall tenure of Brennan at SJSU, it's not a pretty picture. Brennan started 3-22 and 2-14 in his first two seasons. Since then, however, Brennan has rebounded with a 5-7 2019 season (including an upset over Arkansas) and a remarkable 2020 season where the Spartans went 7-0 in conference play and won the Mountain West Championship, their first conference title since 1991. Brennan has built quite the staff and has steadily improved the San Jose State offense. COVID-19 knocked out their coaching staff and plenty of players for their bowl game against Ball State, otherwise, they probably would have won that game or kept it much closer than it was. 


    Brennan's biggest claim pre-SJSU was as the wide receivers coach for Oregon State. Under his tenure, the Beavers churned out some impressive names many will recognize like Brandin Cooks, Markus Wheaton, James Rodgers, Victor Bolden, and recruited recent standout Isaiah Hodgins (he also coached Kevin Cummings, who is currently the WRs coach at Arizona).  


    At San Jose State, Brennan helped QB Josh Love win the 2019 Mountain West Player of the Year and revamped Nick Starkel in 2020. Brennan has done an excellent job dialing up an explosive vertical offense that averaged 8.29 Yards per Attempt in 2020. The SJSU offense finished 37th in OFEI, an improvement from their 49th ranking in 2019. With Nick Starkel back with all five returning offensive line starters including standout LT Jack Snyder, this stat figures to remain constant.


    Yet perhaps his most impressive job has been the rebuilding of the San Jose State defense. The Spartans went from ranking 116th in DFEI rankings in 2019 to 22nd(!) in 2020. This correlated with their improvement in scoring defense, going from 115th (36.6 PPG) in 2018 to 15th (19.88 PPG) in 2020. DC Derrick Odum's investment into the pass rush paid off, with Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Cade Hall returning with fellow pass rusher Villami Fehoko, who was named First-Team All-MWC. 


    Brennan has a tough non-conference game against USC for game two, but they should be on track to enjoy in-conference success and repeat as Mountain West Champs. If he repeats and/or pulls off the upset at USC, I would expect his name to draw plenty of national buzz. 


Jeff Traylor, UTSA 


    What a remarkable turnaround for UTSA under Jeff Traylor in 2020. After going 3-9 and 4-8 in the last two seasons, Traylor took UTSA to a 7-5 overall record and 5-2 in conference, finishing second in the C-USA West. Two of their losses were to BYU by a touchdown on the road and then against Louisiana, a game in which Traylor didn't coach due to COVID-19 but ended up a close 31-24 game. 


    Traylor made his first mark as a Texas high school coach at Gilbert high school, which has produced players like Manuel Johnson, Curtis Brown, and Kris Boyd. Traylor led Gilbert to 3 state titles and produced a 175-26 record there before joining Charlie Strong's staff at Texas as Special Teams/TEs coach. Traylor ended up winning the Big 12 recruiter of the Year before moving to be AHC/RBs coach at SMU in 2017 (mentored Xavier Jones) and Arkansas in 2018 before he took the UTSA job. 


    In his first year, UTSA improved from 112th in Offensive Efficiency in 2019 to 63rd in 2020. RB Sincere McCormick broke onto the stage as a big-time playmaker on his way to being named First-Team All C-USA. WR Zakhari Franklin looks like one of the best playmakers in the country (go watch his game against Lousiana and Army), and the team returns plenty of experience starters on the OL. QB Frank Harris had a roller-coaster season, but closed strong and is Phil Steele's 2nd-team C-USA QB. 


    The UTSA DFEI improved from 124th to 77th this year, following a switch up front to more odd-front looks. Ole Miss transfer Charles Wiley was one of the most productive pass-rushers in the country and returns to anchor the UTSA pass-rush, and safety Rashad Wisdom is a rangy playmaker that will lead a secondary that returns all four starters. UTSA put four players onto an All C-USA team, and the team returns 21 starters from last season. The Roadrunners signed the #1 recruiting class in the C-USA in 2021 as well. 


    It's tough to project how high a ceiling Traylor has at UTSA or his future beyond, considering we have just a one-year sample size. However, he should have UTSA competing for the C-USA championship and another winning record in 2021. If Traylor can keep the momentum rolling unlike his predecessors, Traylor's name should start to earn more buzz as coaching searches heat up. 


Mike Neu, Ball State


    Mike Neu's 2020 offense just doesn't get enough credit nationally in my opinion, and his profile is *awfully* similar to Joe Brady. Neu has just had to work his magic in the MAC instead of having a loaded SEC team at LSU. 


    Neu spent years in the Arena Football League before working up to being the QBs coach for Tulane in 2012-2013 where he worked with Ryan Griffin before taking the New Orleans Saints' QB coach job in 2014 and 2015. It's hard to estimate how much of an impact Neu had on Brees's play, considering it's Drew Brees, but Brees was 6th in EPA/Play, made a Pro Bowl, and led the NFL in passing yards while Neu was his QB coach. It certainly seemed to rub off of Neu. 


    Neu took the offense he learned under Sean Payton and brought it back with him to Ball State. Ever since then, the Cardinals' offense has steadily climbed upwards in metrics, capped off in 2020 with their best season yet. Ball State went 7-1 and won the MAC Championship after going 5-7 the year before. The offense finished 15th in OFEI and 28th in Offensive Efficiency and 27th in OF+. 

    Neu led the Cardinals to their first bowl win in *program history*. Note: Ball State football has been around since 1975. His .875 winning percentage is the program's highest since 1978. 


    His biggest concern has to be improving the defense. Despite finishing 23rd (tied with Notre Dame!) in DFEI, they were 56th in DF+ and 48th in defensive efficiency. This was an improvement from being ranked in the 70s in 2019, but still, something to look at moving forward. However, Ball State does return nine starters on defense, including the 2020 Co-MAC Defensive Player of the Year in linebacker Brandon Martin. They will have to replace CB Antonio Phillips, who led the team in pass breakups last season. 


    Their explosive offense returns standout QB Drew Plitt, as well as stud receivers in Justin Hall and Yo'Heinz Taylor (First and Third team All-MAC in 2020, respectively). Combined with all five starting offensive linemen returning, including Second-Team All-MAC Curtis Blackwell, the Ball State offense looks poised to repeat their aerial bombardment in 2021. I'm very high on this team, and if the defense can take another step forward in DC Tyler Stockton's second year, I think they could compete for the G5 New Years Six bowl bid.  


Danny Gonzales, New Mexico


    In terms of difficulty, there weren't any first-year head coaches who had quite the 2020 Gonzales and the New Mexico Lobos had. Due to COVID protocols, New Mexico's season didn't start until Halloween and they did not have a single game at home. They had to start the season with a back-to-back trip to San Jose and Honolulu, followed up by neutral site games in Las Vegas or on the road against Air Force and Colorado State. It was a difficult start for the team in Duke City, which explains their rocky start (nice pun there, self). However, the team closed the season with two wins over Wyoming and Fresno State and enters 2021 with some momentum.


    It is difficult to win at New Mexico. Recruiting there isn't easy, and being trapped in a division with Boise State, Wyoming, Air Force, and Colorado State is always a challenge. However, Gonzales feels like the right guy for the Lobos. He's pulled off some wins in the transfer portal with former Kentucky QB Terry Wilson and 4-star OT Jack Buford from Missouri. Gonzales brought in legend Rocky Long as his DC and former Texas coach Derek Warehime as his OC, and their immediate improvement on New Mexico's performance was apparent despite the COVID offseason. They were fun to watch. 


    The offense improved from 115th in OFEI and 106th in Offensive Efficiency to 75th and 72nd. The defense improved from 122nd in DFEI and 123rd in Defensive Efficiency to 92nd and 91st, respectively. 


    Gonzales started as a player and then coach at New Mexico, where he coached safeties for a few seasons before joining Rocky Long in the same role at San Diego State. As a coach, he coached players like Glover Quin, Leon McFadden, Nat Berhe, Eric Pinkins, Kameron Kelly, and recent draft prospects Darren Hall and Tariq Thompson. As his reputation grew, Gonzales got offered to be Arizona State's defensive coordinator under Herm Edwards. 


    There, he helped turn around one of the country's worst defenses into a solid unit, developing players like Merlin Robertson, Aashari Crosswell, Chase Lucas, Renell Wren, Jermayne Lole, and Jack Jones before he took the job at New Mexico. 


    I'm not going to project the Lobos to win the MWC or push for a top-25 ranking. However, there's a good shot they can start 3-1 next season and offer some competition to schools like Boise State. If the team stays healthy, I think New Mexico can win a bowl game this season, something they have only done four times since 1931. 


Offensive Coordinators:


It's tough to find a lot of "under-the-radar" or "breakout" offensive coordinators in college football, as many of them are already head coaches or well-known (Graham Harrell or Rhett Lashlee for example). However, there are still a couple that I feel remain underappreciated or overshadowed in their team's success.


Mike DenBrock, Cincinnati


    Everybody loves to talk about Luke Fickell, Marcus Freeman, and the Cincinnati defense (deservedly so), but DenBrock and the offensive side of the ball doesn't generate the same amount of buzz. The offense quietly finished 35th in OFEI, 31st in OF+, and 17th in scoring offense. However, I'm not highlighting DenBrock for his offensive scheme, but rather his phenomenal developmental track record. 


    Let me tell you some names of players DenBrock has sent off to the NFL in his time: Kwame Harris, Anthony Fasano, Khalif Barnes, Joe Toledo, Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert, Will Fuller, Troy Niklas, Equanimeous St. Brown, Korey Cunningham, Josiah Deguara, James Hudson, Gerrid Doaks.


    Oh, and he has Josh Whyle, Alec Pierce, and Desmond Ridder at Cincinnati for next year's draft as well. With all the focus on Fickell and Freeman, DenBrock's outstanding career feels like it's gone under the radar.  


Frank Cignetti, Boston College


    Boston College had a resurgent 2020, and Jeff Hafley gets props for it, but Frank Cignetti's decades of coaching helped turn the offense around in a big way. Phil Jurkovec developed into one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects for the 2022 NFL Draft and Zay Flowers has become a draft crush for many. Hunter Long was drafted in the third round last year. 


    The offense radically changed from the heavy run-first offense it had been under Steve Addazio to an aerial assault. They did so under the tutelage of Cignetti, who has been around and coached NFL quarterbacks for well over two decades. 


    Throughout his coaching tenure, Cignetti has coached players like Jake Delhomme, Aaron Brooks, Jeff Blake, Trent Dilfer, Alex Smith, Jahvid Best, Dion Lewis, Shane Vereen, Mohamed Sanu, Jon Baldwin, Sam Bradford, Kellen Clemens, Todd Gurley, Eli Manning, oh, and Aaron Rodgers. He knows his way around developing an offense or two, and it's paid off so far for Jeff Hafley and co. at Boston College.  


Brad Glenn, Georgia State


    Having grown up in Georgia, I've always made an effort to pay attention to the schools in-state (as you'll see throughout this list). Even after moving to Texas, I still try and keep up. Hence, why I was unsurprised to see Glenn and Georgia State be as successful as they were in 2020. The Panthers' offense under Glenn had more Yards per Game than Georgia, USC, and Oregon and was top-50 in offensive efficiency. 


    Glenn's offense featured an effective option-oriented rushing attack led by QB Cornelious Brown IV, complete with plenty of motion and RPOs to complement. They were handily outmatched by Coastal Carolina (like most opponents were), but they put up close challenges against some great opponents in Billy Napier's Louisiana squad and App State. 


    Glenn has primarily stayed in the Southeast, and his offense is a stark contrast to the high-flying, highly-efficient passing offenses that have become all the recent rage, but he's led a steadily improving and highly effective balanced offense. I don't expect Georgia State to win the Sun Belt this season, but if they do, Brad Glenn and his offense will be a huge reason why.  


Andy Kotelnicki, Kansas


    To counteract any surprise at seeing a Kansas coach being named on this list, let me just clarify that Kotelnicki has earned this spot for his actions at Buffalo. 


    Lance Leipold gets a lot of credit for the Buffalo turnaround and recent sustained success, but it was Kotelnicki that called and designed the plays for their heavy ground-and-pound offense in 2020. His offense and play calls led the way to Buffalo being absolute road-graders behind the running back duo of Jaret Patterson and Kevin Marks. 


    Truth be told, I'd normally be a little skeptical of such an offense working in the Big 12. Big 12 defenses have improved drastically beyond their reputation, and the offenses still largely remain. The heavy zone-run approach (42.8 rushing attempts per game in 2020) seems like a stark contrast to what the Big 12 is known for. However, I recently came across a coaching clinic and podcast that Kotelnicki appeared on in recent years. Listening to his approach to teaching the game to his players, his structure and "distortion" really endeared his process to me. Call it a gut feeling.

 

    It's hard to argue with his approach. Kotelnicki's experience adapting to his personnel, whether it's with MAC Offensive Player of the Year QB Tyree Jackson or his bruising backs in Patterson and Marks, has helped Buffalo to three straight winning seasons and back-to-back bowl victories. Buffalo finished top-10 in almost every single offensive metric Football Outsiders has, and finished 16th in Offensive F+ in 2020. 


    Call it a gut feeling, but I think Kotelnicki's the right guy to help get the Kansas offense from being total nightmares in the coming years. If he can do that, I'd expect him to be a hot commodity quickly in the coaching ranks.  

Links: Coaching Clinic | Podcast 1 | Coachtube Podcasts


Zak Hill, Arizona State


    Members of Draft Twitter™ might recognize Hill's name over the years. Hill is currently the OC at Arizona State, where he has coached talents like QB Jayden Daniels, RB Rachaad White, WR Frank Darby (now an Atlanta Falcon), and OL Dohnovan West, all of whom had or have significant NFL interest. That's impressive for one season at ASU, right? 


    Before Arizona State, Hill was the OC and QBs coach for Boise State. That's right, he coached Draft Twitter™ darling QB Brett Rypien all four years and was a big reason for his success and development. When Rypien was drafted, he finished as the Mountain West’s all-time leader in career completions (1,036) and passing yards (13,581). Hill also coached RB Alexander Mattison, OT Ezra Cleveland, and WRs Cedrick Wilson, John Hightower, and Khalil Shakir while at Boise State. 


    Just to give Draft Twitter™ another kick, Hill was also the quarterbacks coach for one Vernon Adams at Eastern Washington. 


Shane Montgomery, Buffalo


    I'm including both the former Buffalo OC and the new Buffalo OC. When I was researching the new staff, I was stunned at Montgomery's profile and resume. Montgomery has been coaching for 30 years(!) and was the head coach at Miami (OH) that recruited and coached Ben Roethlisberger in the early 2000s. 


    Recently, Montgomery has led the charge as the offensive coordinator for James Madison. Montgomery coached Dallas Cowboys QB Ben DiNucci on his way to a CAA Offensive Player of the Year and a 7th round draft selection, as well as talents like RB Percy Agyei-Obese, RT Liam Fornadel, LT Raymond Gillespia, WR Brandon Polk, and unheralded UDFA surprise G Aaron Stinnie, who started at right guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the playoffs and the Super Bowl victory over Kansas City. 


    I have no idea just how successful Montgomery will be with the Bulls, and I'm not predicting an offensive explosion that's going to break the MAC and make Montgomery a hot name, but it's clear he's an experienced coach who knows how to develop talent. I couldn't leave him off of this list. 


Defensive Coordinators:


Much like Offensive Coordinators, finding some lesser-known guys was difficult because plenty of the top defensive minds are either head coaches (Saban, Smart, Patterson, Lake, Lea) or at high-profile jobs (Grinch, Lanning, Elko, Freeman, Leonhard). However, I had more difficulty cutting down this list than I did with the offensive coordinators, which speaks to the quality of candidates. 


Scot Sloan, Georgia Southern


    Sloan might be the most underrated developer of defensive talent in the Southeast. Just looking at his three years at Georgia Southern, Sloan has produced Kindle Vildor, Donald Rutledge, Kendrick Duncan Jr (now at Louisville), Raymond Johnson III, and Derrick Canteen. He also mentored Clifton Duck at Appalachian State. Between them, that's over twenty All-Sun Belt appearances voted on by various sites, a Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, a Sun Belt Player of the Year, and four of those players have been voted onto an All-American team. That's just in three years at Georgia Southern 


    In 2020, the Eagles' defense finished 25th in DFEI, 16th in Defensive Efficiency, 32nd in DF+, 14th in total defense, and 23rd in scoring defense. Considering they were in the 100s in 2017 before Sloan got there, it's a massive turnaround for that defense. The Sun Belt has some pretty underrated offenses in Louisiana, App State, Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State, and Georgia State but Sloan's defenses have stayed strong and held Louisiana to its lowest points total all season. They capped off 2020 with a dominating 38-3 bowl victory over Louisiana Tech. 


    Sloan has primarily stayed in the Southeast, playing for Clemson and coaching almost entirely within the state of Georgia. It's tough to project him moving out of the area for a bigger job, but he has a resume worthy of recognition.  


Joseph Gillespie, Tulsa


    We all watched the Tulsa defense this year, courtesy of stud linebacker Zaven Collins. They were a dominant defense all around with Zaven Collins, Akayleb Evans, Allie Green IV, Tyarise Stevenson, Jaxon Player, Kendarin Ray, Cullen Wick, Cristian Williams, and TieNeal Martin leading the way. Gillespie has led a dramatic turnaround with Tulsa's 3-3-5 defense, and it's drawn some national attention with two of his position coaches getting SEC jobs this offseason. 


    Before being named DC at Tulsa, Gillespie was a Texas high school football coach at Stephensville who served under Art Briles and Chad Morris before becoming the Head Coach in 2007. After compiling a 72-23 record that included a state championship and mentoring future Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham, Gillespie was hired as the LBs coach at Tulsa under Philip Montgomery. 

    

    Gillespie recruited Zaven Collins to Tulsa and developed him for years. His defense there has now produced Collins, Trevis Gipson, and Reggie Robinson, all of whom went in the first five rounds. He has had more defenders drafted at Tulsa in his two years as a defensive coordinator than the university did in the previous twenty years. It is quite the feat for Gillespie, whose name bears watching for future jobs. 


Ilaisa Tuiaki, BYU


    Everybody knows about the BYU offense from last year. How could they miss it, considering Zach Wilson went second overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, OC Jeff Grimes is now at Baylor in the same role, and the three of the starting five OL at BYU from 2020 are all on NFL rosters. However, the defense was just as effective as the offense was. That was largely due to Tuiaki's efforts.


    BYU's defense wasn't super complex, playing a lot of Cover 3 and flowing to the football, but Tuiaki's development of his players and playing fundamental football has helped him produce some legit NFL talent. In Tuiaki's first year, he was the linebackers coach that helped develop Fred Warner into a high-impact linebacker. Tuiaki has since switched over to also coaching the defensive line, where he has produced NFL talents like recent fifth-round pick Khyiris Tonga and Korbin Kaufusi and helped BYU rank top-5 or top-10 of virtually every defensive category. 


    Tuiaki's career before BYU is worth noting as well. His first big coaching job came as the RBs and special teams coach at Utah State. There, he coached RB Robert Turbin into a WAC Conference Player of the Year. After that, he went on to coach at Utah, first as the tight ends/fullbacks coached in 2012 before switching over to the defensive line. Tuiaki helped develop DE Nate Orchard (who won the Ted Hendricks Award for the best defensive lineman and also became a beloved Hard Knocks star with the Browns) and Kylie Fitts. 


    Tuiaki has interviewed for a couple of FCS head coaching jobs and some Power-5 coordinator gigs. A name worth keeping an eye on.  


Brian Smith, Rice


    Rice doesn't exactly draw a lot of attention, but they caught my eye when they scored highly across practically every metric in the books. The team finished 21st in DFEI, 13th in Defensive Efficiency, and 37th in DF+. Looking at his resume, I was blown away. I even tweeted this out shortly after, and plenty of Rice fans and players interacted and approved.

 

    The Owls allowed just 10 touchdowns in 5 games this season, including a shutout of Marshall, and ranked 26th in passing yards allowed per game. They rose from 96th to 54th in SP+ this season. So I just had to go watch them. There weren't a lot of games out there, but from what I did see, I was impressed by them. 


    They don't boast a lot of NFL-caliber talent or athletes on the team, but the team fits the bill of every cliche in the book. High-effort, high-motor, and fundamentally sound. To my admittedly iffy defensive knowledge, I thought Coach Smith did a great job mixing up fronts and looks on defense to create pressure and force some bad throws (more INTs than TDs allowed). 


    I immediately had to look more into this coach, and I was pretty shocked a guy with his resume is coaching at Rice (no offense to Rice, of course). Bear with me, it is quite a long list. 

  • He coached under Don Brown at UMass as outside linebackers for a year before switching over to wide receivers, where he coached Victor Cruz(!). 
  • After that, he spent seven years with the New York Jets under Eric Mangini and Rex Ryan (and Mike Pettine) as a quality control coach before being promoted to Assistant Defensive Backs coach. There, he worked with players like Dee Milliner, Antonio Cromartie, and Ed Reed. 
  • When Ryan was fired, Smith moved to be an assistant linebackers coach with the Eagles under Billy Davis. In Philly, Smith worked with Mychal Kendricks, Jordan Hicks, Connor Barwin, Kiko Alonso, Brandon Graham, and current 49ers Defensive Coordinator DeMeco Ryans. 
  • Afterward, he re-united with Don Brown at Michigan as safeties coach. There, he coached Delano Hill, Dymonte Thomas, Khaleke Hudson, Josh Metellus, and Jabrill Peppers. He was promoted to defensive backs coach the following season, building a room that consisted of David Long (3rd round pick), Ambry Thomas (3rd round pick), Benjamin St.-Juste (3rd round pick), Lavert Hill, and Tyree Kinnel, as well as the aforementioned Hudson and Metellus. 

    Now, Smith is the Defensive Coordinator. At Rice. You can understand why that defense is so good with a man who has that resume leading the charge. 


Craig Kuligowski/Vince Kehres, Toledo


    I'm cheating with the two names here, but they are technically co-defensive coordinators, so I think I'm ok. These two coaches have an outstanding track record of success, and I couldn't pick between the two.


    For my heavy football nuts in here, many would recognize the outstanding success D3 powerhouse Mount Union has had over the last few decades. A big part of that is due to Vince Kehres. Kehres won two national championships at Mount Union before becoming an assistant coach under his father, Larry Kehres. Vince Kehres served as the Purple Raiders' Defensive Coordinator from 2005-2012, where they boasted an elite defense every year under him. When his father retired, Vince Kehres stepped up as Head Coach and then went on to amass an astounding 95-6 record there, with two national titles, six division titles, and seven playoff appearances. Now he's listed as the Defensive Coordinator at Toledo.


    As for Kuligowski, would you be surprised to learn he has coached fifteen defensive linemen who have been drafted into the NFL, six first-round picks, four All-Americans, and sixteen all-conference players, including one who was drafted third overall just a few seasons ago? Here's a list of players you all might recognize that Kuligowski has coached in his time as a defensive line coach:


  • Quinnen Williams
  • Raekwon Davis
  • Isaiah Buggs
  • Joe Jackson
  • Chad Thomas
  • RJ McIntosh
  • Charles Harris
  • Shane Ray
  • Markus Golden
  • Kony Ealy
  • Sheldon Richardson
  • Michael Sam
  • Aldon Smith
  • Ziggy Hood


    He's added a couple of other potential future NFL players at Toledo in Jamal Hines and Desjuan Johnson. 


    Together, these two helped lead Toledo ranking 36th in DFEI, 37th in Defensive Efficiency, 25th in rushing defense, and 36th in scoring defense in 2020 after finishing 113th, 110th, 121st, and 101st in 2019. Jason Candle has built an excellent group at Toledo. 


Nate Woody, Army


    Brandon Staley's Quarters and light box looks became all the rage in the NFL this year, but very quietly, Nate Woody's Army defense was doing a lot of similar looks. They were a pretty heavy 3-4 team but their "Apache" player was an outside linebacker who rushed the passer and dropped into playing the #2 receiver often. I'm not going to proclaim to be a defensive expert, so I'm not going to try and break down a lot of the looks at risk of sounding like a total moron, but I thought Nate Woody's defense was one of the best-coached and best-schemed defenses I've watched all year.  


    The results speak for themselves. Army was 29th in DFEI, 15th in defensive efficiency, 9th in Points per Drive Allowed, 4th in Opponents First Down Rate, 18th in Havoc Rate, and ranked first or second in Total Defense, Scoring Defense, and Passing Defense. I would have been fascinated to see their matchup against BYU, but unfortunately, that game was canceled due to COVID. They get a fun start to next season opening up against the aforementioned Brad Glenn at Georgia State, and they'll line up against Wisconsin and Wake Forest as well next season.


    Before Army, Woody was the DC at Wofford from 2000-2012 and helped lead Wofford to some Top-10 defenses before he took the job at App State. He coached at App State from 2013-2017, where worked with NFL players like Ronald Blair, Doug Middleton, Tae Hayes, Clifton Duck, Akeem Davis-Gaither, and recruited a few more like Shemar Jean-Charles and Demetrius Taylor. He took over as the DC for Georgia Tech in Paul Johnson's final year before moving to be an analyst at Michigan in 2019.


    Woody's name is starting to heat up in circles. His name popped up in Oregon's search for a defensive coordinator last season, and he's drawn the endorsement of several analysts online. If those numbers continue to impress like this, I'd expect his name to continue to draw heavy interest for Power-5 jobs.  


Zach Arnett, Mississippi State


    Truth be told, there were a few guys I was considering for this last spot. However, Arnett's name is just continuing to build buzz in coaching circles, and I couldn't leave him off. Mike Leach's hire drew all the buzz, but hiring Arnett was the best move he made.


    Arnett is a Rocky Long disciple, so he brought his 3-3-5 to Mississippi State. He was mixing up some split-safety/quarters/three-high safety looks at San Diego State and brought that philosophy to Mississippi State. These kinds of looks have been all the rage recently and "trendy", and Arnett has learned from the best and implemented them with great success.


    Last year, Mississippi State jumped up to 38th in DFEI and 41st in Defensive Efficiency after finishing 68th and 98th last season. His battle in the bowl game against the aforementioned Joseph Gillespie was a ton of fun to watch. Arnett's defense picked off Tulsa QB Zach Smith twice, one for a pick-six and the other one to win the game. Arnett interviewed for the LSU, Texas, and Oregon DC jobs before staying at Mississippi State. For my draftniks, CB Martin Emerson is a guy to keep an eye on for next year under Arnett. The MSU defense has a long way to go before it catches up to its 2018 performance, but Arnett's No-Nonsense attitude has endeared a lot of players and analysts to his ability. 


Offensive Positional Coaches


    For this section, I'm mainly wanting to just look at notable players each coach has developed. Some will say that player development isn't entirely on the positional coaches, but given that many of these guys recruit and play a significant part in their growth and adjustment to the scheme, I find that a little bogus. 


Brandon Streeter, Clemson QBs coach


    Streeter's not exactly an unknown name, but I find it pretty astonishing that a QB coach that has identified and developed both Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, and DJ Uiagalelei and has coached at an elite program for several years is still at the said program. 


Eric Evans, Western Michigan QBs coach


    All of us draftniks love QB Kaleb Eleby and his potential. Evans is the QBs coach responsible for his development. Evans also is the play-caller for that explosive Broncos offense. Before taking over as the QBs coach at WMU, he was the RBs coach that helped coach current Denver Bronco RB LeVante Bellamy. Before he got to WMU, he also coached RB Jordan Howard at UAB. 


Aaron Roderick, BYU QBs coach


    Jeff Grimes is now the OC at Baylor, but Roderick's resume and development of BYU QB Zach Wilson and the Cougars' offense were just as important to their success last year. Roderick was the QBs coach and passing game coordinator at BYU from 2018 onward and is now stepping in full-time as the OC. Before heading over to Provo, Roderick coached for over a decade under Kyle Whittingham at Utah as WRs coach, passing game coordinator, and QBs coach.


Jabbar Juluke, Louisiana RBs coach


    Those "in the know" don't necessarily need an introduction on Juluke, but here's a list of RBs he has coached: Kenneth Dixon, Leonard Fournette, Derrius Guice, Elijah Mitchell, Trey Ragas, Raymond Calais, and Chris Smith. Quite the resume and coach that Billy Napier has guiding his backs. 


Brian White, Colorado State RBs coach

    Another long-time coach, Brian White's list of talent he's helped coach is impressive. White's initial "big-time gig" was at Wisconsin in the late 90s and 2000s. There he helped coach Ron Dayne, Michael Bennett, Brian Calhoun, and Anthony Davis. White's next big job came as the TEs coach at Florida under Urban Meyer, where he coached Aaron Hernandez and Jordan Reed before he took over as the RBs coach there from 2011 to 2014. 


    White coached RBs like Mike Gilleslie, Jeff Demps, Chris Rainey, Trey Burton, Matt Jones, Mack Brown, Kelvin Taylor, and Brandon Powell before moving to coach at Boston College. There, he coached Jon Hilliman, David Bailey, and recent standout AJ Dillon before following Steve Addazio to Colorado State.  


Curtis Luper, Missouri RBs coach


    Luper's another name that might be familiar to many college football aficionados. After coaching Dontrell Moore at New Mexico, Luper reunited with former teammate Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State as his RBs coach. Dantrell Savage, Kendall Hunter, and Keith Toston all developed under Luper at Oklahoma State. After Stillwater, Luper was hired by Gene Chizik as his RBs coach at Auburn. From 2009-2012, Luper coached backs like Ben Tate and Tre Mason. 


     In 2013, Gary Patterson hired him to be his WRs coach at TCU and later Luper moved to coach running backs. Luper coached receivers and running backs at TCU, developing players like Josh Doctson, Aaron Green, Darius Anderson, Sewo Olonilua, Kyle Hicks, KaVontae Turpin, and Jalen Reagor. Now at Missouri, Luper has coached Larry Rountree III and Tyler Badie, two excellent backs. 


Deland McCullough, Indiana RBs coach


    McCullough has quite the resume of backs developed under his tenure. At his first stop with the Hoosiers, McCullough coached both Jordan Howard and Tevin Coleman before being hired at USC. At USC, Ronald Jones II had the best season of his career before becoming a second-round pick. From there, 


    McCullough went into the NFL to be the running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid and coached Kareem Hunt, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Le'veon Bell, LeSean McCoy, Spencer Ware, Darwin Thompson, and both Damien and Darrel Williams. Now he returns to Indiana to coach running backs once again. 


David Johnson, Florida State RBs coach


    Not to be confused with the current Texans back David Johnson, this David Johnson has produced some serious talent over the years. From 2012-2015, Johnson coached running backs and tight ends (with the aforementioned Mike Neu) at Tulane. Players like Rob Kelley, Orleans Darkwa, Dontrell Hilliard came out of Tulane under his watch. 


    From there, he joined Mike Norvell at Memphis as his WRs coach and passing game coordinator. Here, he coached some notable names like Anthony Miller, Tony Pollard, and Damonte Coxie. Johnson stayed in-state afterward, coaching WRs in 2018 and running backs in 2019 at Tennessee. There, he coached Josh Palmer, Marquez Callaway, Jauan Jennings, Ty Chandler, and Eric Gray. 


    Now at Florida State, Johnson helped turn the run game into a steady force with Jashaun Corbin and explosive threat Lawrance Taofili. 


JaMarcus Shephard, Purdue WRs coach


Shephard has been a mainstay with Coach Brohm throughout his career, from Western Kentucky to Purdue. At WKU, Shephard coached Taywan Taylor and was a key figure in those explosive Brandon Doughty-led WKU offenses. Shephard veered away from Brohm for a season to coach River Cracraft at Washington State before reuniting with Brohm at Purdue. Now, Shephard has coached both Rondale Moore and David Bell, as well as some emerging players like Milton Wright and Jackson Anthrop.


Kirby Moore, Fresno State WRs coach


The brother of Dallas Cowboys' stud OC Kellen Moore, Kirby Moore's career has flown under the radar compared to his brother. However, Kirby Moore has shown a knack for developing wide receivers at the collegiate level and, in my opinion, is someone to keep an eye on for future bigger gigs as Kalen DeBoer helps guide the Fresno State offense. 


    Kirby Moore originally served as a grad assistant at Washington, where he helped coach Dante Pettis and John Ross. Moore then took over as the WRs coach at Fresno State. Since then, Moore helped put Keesean Johnson into the NFL and, in 2020, produced two All-MWC wide receivers in Jalen Cropper and Keric Wheatfall. (Sidenote: That is an elite last name duo). 


Kyle Cefalo, Utah State WRs coach


    Cefalo's name hasn't produced any first-round receivers or big-time NFL talents, but at the collegiate level, Cefalo has coached Chris Murray, Omar Bayless, Kirk Merritt, and Johnathan Adams while at Arkansas State. Each of those players earned an All Sun-Belt nomination, while also amassing two All-Americans and Biletnikoff semi-finalists. 


    Now at Utah State, Cefalo gets to work with Preseason All-American returner Savon Scarver and is bringing Brandon Bowling with him, who he coached to an honorable-mention Sun Belt appearance last year.


Eric Scott, San Jose State WRs coach


    Scott has established himself as an up-and-coming wide receivers coach due to his work at Nevada over the years while working with Jay Norvell. At Nevada, Scott coached McLane Mattix, Elijah Cooks, Romeo Doubs, and Brendan O'Leary-Orange. Cooks and Doubs have both received significant NFL interest so far. Now Scott has to work on replacing San Jose State's top receivers from 2020. 


Justin Stepp, South Carolina WRs coach


    Stepp's coaching career has produced some elite talent over the years, no matter where he has been. It's a coup for new South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer to convince Stepp to take over. While the wide receivers coach at App State, Stepp coached Sean Price, who set FCS records while at App State.


     From there, Stepp moved up to coach WRs at SMU. Courtland Sutton, James Proche, and Trey Quinn all emerged under his watch. Stepp followed Chad Morris to Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks produce receivers like Treylon Burks and Mike Woods. Stepp has proven himself to be an excellent recruiter and developer of wide receiver talent. At a school that has recently produced players like Shi Smith, Bryan Edwards, and Deebo Samuel, Stepp is a name worth watching. 


Alex Golesh, Tennessee TEs coach


    Golesh is a recent breakout coach, but his ascending career explains why Tennessee made him one of the highest-paid tight ends coaches in college football. Golesh's name first emerged as the tight ends coach at Iowa State under Matt Campbell. Golesh helped develop Charlie Kolar and Chase Allen at Iowa State, and also served as the Cyclones' recruiting coordinator. 


    He was hired at UCF, where he served as co-offensive coordinator and TEs coach. Notably, Jacob Harris turned himself into a 4th-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams under Golesh. Now, he's joining Heupel at Tennessee, who hasn't had a tight end drafted since Mychal Rivera in 2013.  


Derek Sage, UCLA TEs coach


    Many of my fellow draftniks have fallen in love with recent UCLA tight end Greg Dulcich and for good reason. He's an exciting player. UCLA has produced some notable tight end prospects in recent years, and that is largely due to Sage's efforts. Sage has an extensive history of producing NFL talent over the last decade.     


    At Toledo, Sage coached Cody Thompson, Diontae Johnson, and Jon'vea Johnson. Sage coached at Wazzu for a year with 2020 6th-round pick Dezmon Patmon. Now at UCLA, Sage has coached Caleb Wilson, Devin Asiasi, and the aforementioned Dulcich while also coordinating special teams. 


Jordan Paopao, Arizona TEs coach


    Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. Darrell Daniels. Will Dissly. Drew Sample. Hunter Bryant. Cade Otton. What do all those names have in common? You guessed it: All of them were coached by Paopao at the University of Washington. Now, Paopao joins Jedd Fisch's new staff in Arizona and will undergo quite the turnaround in trying to build up the Arizona offense. 


Brent Key, Georgia Tech OL coach


    Brent Key is one of the game's best OL coaches for developing fundamentals and technique. He has produced several NFL players while at UCF and Alabama. At UCF, Key coached up Jah Reid into a third-round selection. 


    While at Alabama, Key coached *deep breath* Jonah Williams, Cam Robinson, Ross Pierschbacher, Deonte Brown, Bradley Bozeman, Lester Cotton, J.C. Hassensauer, Alex Leatherwood, Jedrick Wills, and Emil Ekiyor. Key hasn't had any offensive linemen drafted yet at Georgia Tech, as the team is transitioning, but that should change soon. The team added two-time All-MEAC tackle Kenneth Kirby and Devin Cochran, a three-year starter at Vanderbilt. 


Ed Warriner, Florida Atlantic OL coach


    Ed Warriner ending up at Florida Atlantic instead of coaching at a Power-5 university is a coup for Willie Taggart and that FAU staff. Warriner has been a long-time coach around the country, including as the OL coach and OC for the last good Kansas squad in the late 2000s. 


    After Kansas, Warriner had a two-year stint at Notre Dame before settling in as the OL coach at Ohio State from 2012-2016, where he coached and recruited some notable OL talents like Andrew Norwell, Taylor Decker, Pat Elflein, Corey Linsley, Jack Mewhort, Jamarco Jones, and Billy Price. 


    After that, Warriner was the OL coach for Minnesota for PJ Fleck's first season before taking the OL coach job at Michigan. There, Warriner coached recent NFL talents Jon Runyan, Ben Bredeson, Michael Onwenu, Cesar Ruiz, and Jalen Mayfield. Warriner's work is cut out for him trying to rebuild that FAU OL, but he's earned his extensive reputation. 


Defensive Positional Coaches


Inoke Breckterfield, Vanderbilt DL coach


    Clark Lea has built an outstanding defensive staff at Vanderbilt, but perhaps his biggest coup was plucking Breckterfield as his DL coach from Wisconsin. Breckterfield has been churning out NFL defensive linemen wherever he has coached. At UCLA in 2011, Breckterfield coached Datone Jones, Cassius Marsh, and Owamagbe Odighizuwa before he was hired by Pitt in 2012. 


    There he coached and developed Aaron Donald over his three-year tenure at Pitt before joining Paul Chryst at Wisconsin. The Wisconsin defensive line has been incredibly well-coached and stout against the run over the years, despite not producing a ton of individual NFL talent. 


    Breckterfield has a lot of work to do to fix a Vanderbilt defensive front that was, quite frankly, uninspiring outside of Dayo Odeyingbo, but I think the 'Dores got themselves a dude that can handle such an undertaking.  


Mike Peterson, South Carolina DE/OLBs coach


    Another South Carolina coach on this list, Peterson seems like a rapidly ascending coach at his young age. At South Carolina, Peterson has helped coach Darius English, D.J. Wonnum, and Kingsley Enagbare-a potential first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Peterson also gets to work with incoming transfer Jordan Strachan-a third-team All-Sun Belt rusher with 10.5 sacks in 2020. 


    Considering Peterson has only been coaching for five years now, producing some All-SEC talent, a fourth-round pick, a GA at Georgia State, and a potential first-round pick for the 2022 NFL Draft is a bright start. 


Dennis Johnson, Baylor DL coach


    Dennis Johnson making the jump from LSU to Baylor with Dave Aranda was a big win for Aranda. Johnson was responsible for coaching the defensive line for LSU from 2017 onwards. There, Johnson churned out defensive linemen like Rashard Lawrence, Neil Farrell, Breiden Fehoko, Glen Logan, and the smart fridge himself in Tyler Shelvin. 


    Last season, Johnson oversaw the development of William Bradley-King at Baylor. This year, he gets to add mammoth tackle transfer from LSU Siaki Ika to a defense that is only getting better and better. 


Kevin Patrick, FAU DL coach


    Willie Taggart has quite a pair of coaches in the trenches. Kevin Patrick has an extensive history in the Southeast developing talent with a few stops out to Texas here and there. His first big stop was at South Florida, where Patrick developed Jason Pierre-Paul, Terrel McClain, and George Selvie. After a couple of stops out in Texas, where he coached Chad Polk at North Texas and Eli Howard at Texas Tech, Patrick ended up at NC State. 


    There, Patrick coached Bradley Chubb, BJ Hill, Justin Jones, and Kentavius Street. All four members of his 2017 defensive line were drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft. Patrick also coached Larell Murchison, James Smith-Williams, and star Alim McNeil before taking the FAU job in 2020. 


    Edge rusher Leighton McCarthy inked a UDFA deal with the Buccaneers, but the Owls return a couple of gifted linemen in Jaylen Joyner and mammoth nose tackle Evan Anderson.


Peter Hansen, UNLV DC/LBs coach


    I'm partly cheating with this addition since Hansen is a defensive coordinator and not just a LBs coach, but Hansen's resume was too good to leave off. Hansen got his start coaching under *Vic Fangio* at Stanford, and followed him to the San Francisco 49ers. 


    There, Hansen worked with linebackers such as Patrick Willis, Ahmad Brooks, Navarro Bowman, and Aldon Smith. After San Fran, Hansen returned to Stanford, where he has since mentored linebackers like Blake Martinez, Bobby Okereke, and Curtis Robinson. 


Scott White, SJSU LBs coach


    Another San Jose State coach makes it onto this list. It's understandable why San Jose State was so successful last season. Scott White boasts a resume that is greater than what one might expect at San Jose State. Would you be surprised to learn he has coached three top current NFL linebackers in his career? 


    White coached Myles Jack, Eric Kendricks, and Anthony Barr. In addition to those three, White also coached Jayon Brown, Kenny Young, and Krys Barnes while with the Bruins. At San Jose State, White has produced two All-Mountain West linebackers in Ethan Aguayo and Kyle Harmon. 


Brian Odom, Oklahoma LBs coach


    You can call me biased if you want to, but Odom's work at Oklahoma has been nothing but stellar. After developing Kenneth Murray into a first-round pick, Odom has elevated the Oklahoma linebacker room far beyond expectations. David Ugwoegbu broke out in 2020 and has sky-high expectations at Oklahoma. 


    The room boasts veteran linebackers in Brian Asamoah, Dashaun White, and Caleb Kelly, as well as some younger talent in Joseph Wete, Jamal Morris, and Shane Whitter. His impact as a coach is a big reason why Oklahoma's defensive performance and expectations have skyrocketed. 


Blue Adams, Oregon State Secondary coach


    Blue Adams has been a bit of a defensive back factory here in recent years. After leading an Oregon State secondary that had players like Nahshon Wright, Isaiah Dunn, Jaydon Grant, and Akili Arnold last season, I had to look more into Adams's tenure. 


    Turns out, before leading a standout secondary in Corvallis, Adams has coached NFL DBs before all over. Before Oregon State, Adams coached Deatrick Nichols and then coached Rasul Douglas at West Virginia. Adams was an assistant coach for the Miami Dolphins, working with DBs like Reshad Jones before moving into the collegiate ranks. 


Chip West/Nick Monroe, Syracuse DBs coaches


    These two have produced DBs before their work together at Syracuse, but their recent work has been remarkable. West coached Maurice Canady, Ras-I Dowling, Rodney McLeod, and Chase Minnifield at Virginia before also producing 2020 7th-round pick Chris Jackson at Marshall. Monroe sent Jude Adjei-Barimah into the NFL while at Bowling Green with Dino Babers. 


    However, it is their work together at Syracuse in 2020 that produced one of the most talented secondaries in the country. These two helped Ifeatu Melifonwu, Andre Cisco, and Trill Williams into the NFL and also have another one coming in star corner Garrett Williams. The 3-3-5 under Tony White (another Rocky Long disciple) has meshed in well with their ability as coaches. 


Terry Joseph, Texas Secondary Coach


    If Terry Joseph doesn't find himself working as a Defensive Coordinator soon, you could color me surprised. Joseph has produced a remarkable amount of secondary talents at prior stops. MJ Stewart, Stanley Jean-Baptiste, Brandon Williams, Justin Evans, Armani Watts, Donovan Wilson, and Deshazor Everett were all coached by Joseph at prior stops at North Carolina, Nebraska, and Texas A&M.


     However, it's Joseph's work under Clark Lea at Notre Dame that raises my eyebrows. *Deep breath* Julian Love, Alohi Gilman, Troy Pride, Jalen Elliott, and Kyle Hamilton are all safeties that Joseph coached and developed at Notre Dame. 


Jason Jones, Indiana safeties coach


    For the last two coaches on this list, I want to send it off to the Big 10, who certainly have no shortage of NFL talent developers on defense. Jason Jones at Indiana is one such coach. Many will certainly recognize Jamar Johnson, who Jones coached into a fifth-round pick as the first Indiana safety drafted since Eric Smedley in 1996. Jones also coached Devon Matthews into a Third-Team All-Big 10 nomination.


    Before Indiana, however, Jones has quite the resume of professional players. Justin Gilbert, Mike Hilton, and Senquez Golson were all coached by Jones, and current FSU starter Meiko Dotson was as well. Now Jones has a returning Devon Matthews and a former All-American in Marcelino Ball. I'd expect the Indiana secondary to be balling out again in 2021. 


Matt MacPherson, Northwestern DBs coach


    We all know just how good the Northwestern defense has been for years. MacPherson has played a critical role in the development and play of that defense. Players like Montre Hartage, J.R. Pace, and oh yeah, first-round pick Greg Newsome II have all been coached by MacPherson, who is going into his third season coaching defensive backs. Yes. His third. Next on the list of NFL star prospects is safety Brandon Joseph, who looks like a future first-round pick easily in the 2022 NFL Draft.