Florida set to hire alum, Penn State OL coach Phil Trautwein for same role

Florida is set to hire alum Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein for the same role in Gainesville. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed the news on Friday afternoon.

“Sources: Florida is set to hire Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein as the school’s new offensive line coach,” Thamel posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Trautwein is a Florida graduate who has coached 39 all-conference selections the last eight years, including his two seasons at Boston College.”

It’s certainly an impressive hire for new coach Jon Sumrall. The Gators are trying to change the narrative surrounding their team. Building a strong coaching staff will be the first step towards making that happen.

Earlier, Sumrall tapped Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner for the same post in Gainesville, according to On3’s Nakos and Chris Low. Faulkner has spent the last three years at Georgia Tech. Most notably, he helped mold quarterback Haynes King into a Heisman Trophy contender this season. He has previous SEC experience, too.

The 44-year-old assistant coach was at Georgia from 2020-22, working with the program’s quarterbacks as a quality control specialist. He worked with Stetson Bennett extensively as the program won back-to-back national titles.

Additionally, Faulkner had been listed as one of the top targets for Sumrall by Nakos. Other candidates reportedly included Pittsburgh‘s Kade Bell and Tennessee‘s Joey Halzle.

As things stand, Florida will be getting a coach who has helped develop a top-ranked offense at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets rank 12th nationally this season in total offense at 466.3 yards per game, while also ranking 28th in scoring offense at 33.1 points per game.

Both figures greatly eclipse what the Gators produced this season. And Florida will obviously be hoping Buster Faulkner can breathe life into the offense.

Buster Faulkner, Brad White hired as coordinators

With the Buster Faulkner hire, Florida now has both of its coordinators in place under Sumrall. Sumrall previously tapped Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White for the same job in Gainesville. That hire was made official last week.

White had become the second-longest tenured member of the football staff at Kentucky under previous coach Mark Stoops. He came to Lexington in 2018 and spent a season as outside linebackers coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2019.

In seven years with White in charge, UK allowed an average of 22.9 points and 347.2 total yards per game, more than once ranking among the nation’s best in scoring or total defense.

White came to Kentucky after six seasons as a defensive quality control coach and a linebackers coach for the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL. His other experience in college included two years as a graduate assistant at Wake Forest, a year as a safeties coach at Murray State, and one year as an inside linebackers coach at Air Force.

— On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this report.