Florida turns to NFL to hire Jonathan Decoster III as co-offensive line coach
With Darnell Stapleton now with the Washington Commanders, the Gators have now found his replacement to pair with Rob Sale.
Gators Online can confirm that Jonathan Decoster III, who had most recently served as an offensive assistant with the Cleveland Browns, is filling that void in Gainesville.
On Friday, GO’s Zach Abolverdi reported that DeCoster was a potential replacement for Stapleton.
Now, we can confirm that move is official.
Decoster joined the Browns in 2021 after spending eight years coaching at the collegiate level, including three seasons at LSU (2017-19). He is a native of Miramar, Fla. and was a four-year starter at right tackle at the University of Louisiana. He anchored an offensive line that finished seventh in the country in rushing in both 2007 and 2008.
In his six seasons as a head coach, Billy Napier has always had two offensive line coaches.
Napier explained his reasoning for that back in 2022:
“We try to take advantage of the fact that I coach the quarterbacks. And when you really think about the numbers relative to each position, you’re coaching five players. I don’t think there’s anybody in the country who’s coaching five DBs with one guy. And I really believe the offensive line position is a very technical, developmental position. I think you’re also managing a lot of players and a lot of relationships. You’re also having to evaluate and recruit a lot of players. So, it just made sense,” Napier said.
“We started that at the University of Louisiana, and we were the only team in the country to do it and it’s paid off. That group has played extremely well for us. We had two second-round picks, two fourth-round picks. And the attention to detail, the ability to split up individual drills, the ability to split up meetings, I think there’s a compound effect there that’s paid off. And I think we’ll continue to do that. It’s been very effective for us, and to me, it makes a lot of sense.”
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