Florida head coach Jim McElwain assigns new roles for two of his returning assistants and announces position assignments for three assistants hired last week.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida head coach Jim McElwain announced Friday the position assignments of his three new assistant coaches, and a couple of changes to a pair of current UF assistants.
Below are the assignments of the coaches affected:
* Chris Rumph – Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line
* Tim Skipper – Assistant Coach, Linebackers
* Corey Bell – Assistant Coach, Defensive Backs
* Ja’Juan Seider – Assistant Coach, Running Backs
* Brad Davis – Assistant Coach, Offensive Line
Rumph, who’s coached a pair of All-SEC defensive tackles (Jon Bullard and Caleb Brantley) during his first two years in Gainesville, has tutored one of the best fronts of the Southeastern Conference over the past two years.
In 2016, Florida’s rush defense (144.5 ypg) and sacks per game (2.38) both ranked in the top half of the league. Two seasons ago under Rumph’s direction, UF ranked second in the SEC and fifth in the country with 40 sacks, while their 294 sack yards sat fourth nationally.
The Orangeburg, S.C. native held a similar title at Texas during his lone season in Austin, as Rumph was the Longhorns’ assistant head coach for defense and defensive line coach.
Skipper has spent 16 of his 21 years coaching on the defensive side of the ball, including three-plus seasons as a defensive coordinator.
A versatile teacher entering his third season at Florida, Skipper made the same transition at Fresno State as he coached the Bulldogs running backs from 2006-08 and then transitioned into Fresno’s linebackers coach and run defense coordinator.
Prior to joining McElwain at Florida, Skipper spent three seasons at Colorado State with McElwain, including two as assistant head coach.
Skipper played a role in coaching a CSU defense in 2013 that ranked third in the Mountain West Conference and 30th in the FBS in rushing defense (140.6), fourth (46th FBS) in sacks (2.3 per game) and fourth in scoring defense (29.8). For their efforts that season, three CSU defenders earned All-Mountain West recognition in 2013, including Defensive Player of the Year, first-team All-MWC linebacker Shaquil Barrett and honorable mention All-MWC linebacker Max Morgan.
In addition, Skipper tutored linebacker Corey James at CSU, who ranks fourth in school history with 22 career sacks and now plays for the Oakland Raiders.
At Fresno State, the Bulldogs advanced to four bowl games in Skipper’s six seasons, largely due to his development of all-conference linebackers Ben Jacobs and Travis Brown, and explosive running backs Ryan Mathews, Dwayne Wright, Lonyae Miller and Clifton Smith.
Meanwhile, Bell<http://floridagators.com/news/2017/2/4/football-bell-davis-hired-as-assistant-coaches-to-complete-2017-coaching-staff.aspx?path=football>, Davis<http://floridagators.com/news/2017/2/4/football-bell-davis-hired-as-assistant-coaches-to-complete-2017-coaching-staff.aspx?path=football> and Seider<http://floridagators.com/news/2017/2/2/football-seider-hired-as-assistant-coach.aspx?path=football> were all announced as assistant coaches last week.