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Vinnie Sunseri to be co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach for Gators

On3 imageby: Keith Niebuhr01/25/25On3Keith
Vinnie Sunseri-Alabama-Washington-Florida-Gators
(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Jacksonville State defensive coordinator and former NFL assistant coach Vinnie Sunseri has agreed to be co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach for Florida, Gators Online has confirmed.

Sunseri, as first reported by Gators Online, arrived in Gainesville on Thursday and interviewed with Florida coach Billy Napier on Friday, according to multiple sources. UF had an opening on the coaching staff after defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong left for Houston.

The former Alabama and NFL safety served as the safeties coach last season at Washington, where he worked with Huskies defensive coordinator Steve Belichick (now at UNC) after they spent four years together with the New England Patriots. 

Sunseri, who played for the Patriots during the 2016 season, was hired by former New England coach Bill Belichick in 2020 as a defensive coaching assistant before being becoming the team’s running backs coach from 2021-23. 

Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 1,040 yards in 2022, the Pats’ first 1,000-yard rusher in six years. In 2021, Sunseri helped guide Damien Harris to career highs in rushing yards (929) and touchdowns (15), tied for second in the NFL. 

Sunseri, 33, was recently hired as the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State by first-year coach Charles Kelly, the former DC at Auburn, Colorado and Florida State. 

Background on Vinnie Sunseri

Sunseri began his coaching career in 2019 at his alma mater, Alabama, as a graduate assistant. He has multiple ties to Florida, most notably with UF coach Billy Napier after they crossed paths twice in Tuscaloosa. 

Sunseri played three seasons at Alabama (2011-13), winning BCS national titles during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Two of those years were spent with Napier, who was first hired by Nick Saban in 2011 and rejoined his staff in 2013. 

Florida co-offensive coordinators Russ Callaway and Rob Sale were also assistants at Alabama in 2011 when Sunseri started. He and UF senior analyst Joe Houston worked together in New England for the same four years as well. 
 
Sunseri is the son of Sal Sunseri, a long-time college and NFL football coach and consensus All-America linebacker at Pitt in 1981. His father provides another tie to the program, having served as Florida’s defensive line coach in 2018. 
 
Sunseri was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. After two seasons with the Saints, he spent the first portion of the 2016 season with the Patriots before signing with the San Francisco 49ers.

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