Report: Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coach will not join Billy Napier, Florida
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi had been linked with Billy Napier’s growing staff at the University of Florida, but according to a report from ESPN’s Chris Low, Lupoi will not be joining the Gators coaching staff.
However, Low did add that he “wouldn’t be surprised to see Lupoi back somewhere in college football.” Lupoi’s head coach, Urban Meyer, was fired late last night, and the Jaguars next head coach could very well choose not to retain him.
Lupoi was previously linked to Dan Lanning’s staff at Oregon, a report that seems to have a bit more validity than the Lupoi-to-Florida chatter.
Lupoi spent six seasons on the west coast as a coach, being the defensive line coach at Cal and Washington. He then moved down to Tuscaloosa to work with Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Lupoi was promoted to co-defensive coordinator for the 2017 season after originally being hired as the outside linebackers coach.
In an article with AL.com back in 2019, some of Alabama’s top recruits and their parents expressed how genuine of a person Lupoi is. Players such as Tua Tagovailoa and Najee Harris credit the former Alabama staffer
“He’s special,” Galu Tagovailoa, Tua’s father, said. “He’s one of the biggest reasons, besides Coach Saban, that we’re so fully committed to Alabama. I had a hard time getting a hold of other recruiters that were after my son. With Tosh, he’s just genuine and awesome. Other recruiters, it took them weeks to get back to me and they would be like, ‘Oh man, I totally forgot. I’ll look into it.’ With Tosh, when you ask him something, he’s on it.”
Lupoi was even able to impress Harris, something that eventually helped the Crimson Tide win the recruitment.
“Najee would say the stuff sometimes like, ‘Man, he’s here again. Man, he’s here again,’” Harris’ high school coach John Lucido said. “There were times that the recruiting timeline would open and he was the first guy at the school. He’s very persistent. And I think, in the end, that really impressed Najee. He does a good job, and he’s one of the best.”
As for Lupoi’s position with the Jacksonville Jaguars, head coach Urban Meyer is already on the hot seat. Reports have begun to float that Meyer could be gone just after one season, leaving Lupoi to be a free agent.
Lanning would go after Lupoi hard, bringing one of the best west coast recruiters to his staff for Oregon. With the hole Cristobal left within the 2022 class, a quick recovery could be made by the Oregon Ducks.
On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.