Washington Commanders hire Florida OL coach Darnell Stapleton

The Florida football team will have a hole to fill on its staff a few weeks before spring football begins, with offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton leaving for the NFL.

The Washington Commanders announced Stapleton as an assistant offensive line coach online on Thursday morning.

Florida won’t necessarily have to scramble to fill the opening, though, and it’s certainly possible that coach Billy Napier opts not to directly replace Stapleton’s position. Stapleton worked with the offensive line alongside Rob Sale, who is capable of taking over the full unit should Napier want to go another route with his final on-field assistant coaching hire.

Some Florida fans have clamored for the hiring of a full-time special teams coordinator, which the Gators do not currently have. Others have wanted Napier to hire a dedicated play-caller for the offense.

In the past, though, Napier has been vocal about the kind of advantage he believes having two offensive line coaches provides.

“It gives us an advantage, in my opinion,” Napier said shortly after he was hired in December 2021. “We’re one of the only teams in the entire country to have two offensive line coaches. When you’re coaching offensive line, you’ve got to coach five players. Nobody’s got one coach coaching five DBs.”

Still, the timing of Darnell Stapleton’s departure is unfortunate as it leaves Florida down one on-field assistant just weeks before spring ball begins.

Stapleton has been with Napier from the beginning at Florida, hired in December 2021 when Napier first got the job. He accompanied Napier to Gainesville from Louisiana, where Napier spent four years as head coach.

The departing offensive line coach previously spent one season at Louisiana in 2021, where he joined forces with Napier.

He had previous stints at Sam Houston State, Bucknell, Pace and Rutgers.

Stapleton is credited with coaching three NFL Draft selections in O’Cyrus Torrence (2023, Florida), Max Mitchell (2022, Louisiana) and Julien Davenport (2017, Bucknell).

Prior to his coaching days, Stapleton enjoyed a brief stint in the NFL, where he was a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2007-10 and was part of the Super Bowl XLIII win.