Tracking Florida’s assistant coach hires under Billy Napier

New Gators coach Billy Napier has only been on the job for just over a week, but his coaching staff is already starting to come together. Though there are still some key roles that still need additions, Napier has already hired a number of on-field coaches and off-field supporting staff.

We knew that one of the factors that ultimately led to Napier accepting the job was an expanded salary pool for both assistant coaches and support staff. During his opening press conference last Sunday, we got a better idea of how he’s going to build his staff. One thing he mentioned was the fact that he will call plays and coach the quarterbacks with the help of an assistant, opening the door for the team to have two offensive line coaches.

We’ll keep you updated on all the moves Florida makes as it completes its staff. Here are the coaches and staff Napier has already hired.

Mark Hocke - Assistant Head Coach/Director of Football Strength and Conditioning

Though there were a large number of players clamoring for Napier to keep previous strength coach Nick Savage, the new coach ultimately brought his strength coach from Louisiana with him. Hocke joined Napier’s initial staff at Louisiana, and the two had worked together at Alabama, where Hocke was on Nick Saban’s staff from 2009-15.

He served as the head strength coach at Georgia in 2015, followed by stints on the strength staff at Florida State and Texas A&M in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Hocke brings a lot of SEC and high-level experience to the table, and he’s very familiar with Napier.

Patrick Toney - Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties

One of several on-field assistants to follow Napier to Florida, Toney is just 31 and is considered a rising name in the sport. He spent the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator in Lafayette, guiding the Sun Belt’s best defense in 2021.

He initially joined Napier’s staff as a safeties coach before being promoted to DC (he also switched to coaching linebackers this season). Prior to working at Louisiana, he was an assistant at UTSA, Sam Houston State and Southeast Louisiana.

Jabbar Juluke - Running Backs/Assistant Head Coach (Offense)

Like Toney, Juluke follows Napier to Florida after spending the last four years on his Louisiana staff, where he coached two drafted running backs in Elijah Mitchell (now a budding star for the San Francisco 49ers) and Raymond Calais. In 2019, he was named FootballScoops’ Running Backs Coach of the Year as his unit set school records in rushing yards and touchdowns while averaging more than six yards a carry as a team.

He also has Power Five and SEC experience, coaching at Texas Tech and LSU (where he worked with Leonard Fournette and Darius Guice) before joining Napier’s staff. He started his career as a running backs coach at Louisiana Tech.

Ryan O'Hara - Offensive Analyst (Quarterbacks)

Napier said that he will coach the quarterbacks himself with the help of an analyst, and that analyst will be a familiar face in O’Hara, who had the same job at Louisiana. Napier and O’Hara developed the best quarterback in Ragin’ Cajuns history in Levi Lewis, and before he was hired by Napier in 2018, he was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Alabama A&M. Before that, he was a quarterbacks coach at Mt. San Antonio College and Santa Monica College.

He played at Arizona in college where he was the starting quarterback before transferring to Division II Central Oklahoma, where he was an all-conference selection in 2006.

Corey Raymond - Cornerbacks/Assistant Head Coach (Defense)

The most noteworthy of Napier’s hires so far, the new Gators coach managed to steal Raymond from his alma mater at LSU. He spent the last 10 years with the Tigers as an assistant and also served as the recruiting coordinator the last two years. He’s known as an excellent recruiter, and his list of all-time top recruits is a spectacle to behold. At LSU, he produced seven First Team All-Americans and 14 NFL draft picks (four of which have become Pro Bowlers).

He was a three-year starter for the Tigers in college and played six seasons in the NFL, starting 60 games in the process. He started his coaching career with three years as a high school defensive coordinator in Louisiana. His first college job was as an assistant at LSU from 2006-08 when he was a part of the 2007 national title team. He then had stints with Utah State and Nebraska before returning to Baton Rouge, where he’s played a big role in building the school’s “DBU” claim.

Darnell Stapleton - Offensive Line

The first of Florida’s two offensive line coaches to be announced, Stapleton makes the jump to the Power Five after spending just one season on Napier’s staff at Louisiana in 2021. Prior to that, he spent four seasons as the offensive line coach at Sam Houston State, where he won a Football Championship Subdivision national championship last season. That followed stints as an offensive line coach at Pace University and Bucknell after he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Rutgers.

Stapleton started 25 games at center in two years with the Scarlet Knights, and he was a finalist for the Rimington Award as a senior. He spent four seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2007-10, starting 18 games and winning a Super Bowl. Following his NFL career, he coached for the New York Sharks, a women’s professional football team, and he coached both offensive and defensive lines at Montclair Kimberly Academy before returning to Piscataway as a graduate assistant.

Jamar Chaney - Defensive Analyst (Linebackers)

Chaney returns to Florida, where he was an assistant director of player personnel under coach Dan Mullen during the 2019 season before leaving to become a senior defensive analyst at his alma mater, Mississippi State. A former Bulldogs linebacker, Chaney earned All-SEC honors as a junior and was a seventh-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

He played for five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos and the then-Oakland Raiders. Before joining UF’s staff (his first collegiate job), he was the head coach at his high school alma mater, St. Lucie West Centennial.

Joe Hamilton - Personnel Analyst

Hamilton follows Napier and takes a similar off-field staffer role. While his job at Louisiana was his first in the industry, per his LinkedIn account, he was previously a recruiting analyst covering the state of Texas for 247Sports and SB Nation. He graduated from Texas Southern University in 2017.

Andrew Burkett - Director of Research and Evaluation

Burkett held the same role on Napier’s staff at Louisiana. It’s also a new role for UF that, judging by the name, will likely be used to improve the evaluation of recruiting prospects. Per his LinkedIn, Burkett graduated from Alabama in 2016, working as a recruiting specialist while still in college.

After one season as a player personnel intern at Arizona State, he returned to Tuscaloosa to get a Master’s in sports business administration. He was hired by Napier at Louisiana in 2018 after graduating.

Other additions

Syndication: Gainesville Sun

Napier made a few other support staff moves, all involving coaches who were on his staff at Louisiana. He brings with him director of recruiting and football logistics Kyle Kazakevicius, director of player personnel Jacob LaFrance and director of player engagement Ashour Peera.

Napier’s staff at Louisiana was the largest in the Sun Belt as he tried to build the program in Saban’s image by adding a large support staff. He’s clearly pleased with the results from those staffers, as a large portion of them have followed him to Gainesville.

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