Bio Blast: Jabbar Juluke

We are now starting to see some moving and shaking throughout the college football carousel when it comes to assistant coach movement. The same is true at Kentucky as new head coach Will Stein begins to build his first staff. Another hire with deep Louisiana ties appears to be on the way.

Reports are surfacing that UK is targeting Florida running backs coach Jabbar Juluke for the same position.

There are clear ties for Juluke to the staff that Stein is building and an area that UK appears to be valuing in recruiting. What could the program be adding to the offensive staff room in Lexington.

KSR is taking a closer look at the next potential running backs coach at the University of Kentucky.

Deep Louisiana ties

Expected new Kentucky offensive coordinator Joe Sloan is not from Louisiana, but has spent the last 13 seasons working in that state with time spent at Louisiana Tech and LSU. Jabber Juluke will give the Kentucky coaching staff yet another coach with very deep ties in The Boot.

Juluke is a New Orleans native who played both basketball and football at Southern University in Baton Rouge. After his playing career was over, Juluke started a high school coaching career that led him to become the head coach at New Orleans (La.) Edna Karr. During his time at this high school powerhouse, Juluke led Edna Karr to three state championship game appearances and over 70 players received college football scholarships. The high school head coach finished his career with an 80-39 record and a state title in 2012.

After that strong run, Juluke joined Skip Holtz‘s Louisiana Tech staff in 2013. Sloan was a wide receivers coach at that time in Ruston. The running backs coach was then hired by Les Miles to join the LSU staff in 2016. After Miles was fired, Juluke relocated to Texas Tech where he worked with Kliff Kingsbury, Florida Atlantic head coach Zach Kittley, and Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. Juluke decided to relocate again after a one-year stop in Lubbock and returned to the Bayou.

The running backs coach joined Billy Napier‘s first staff at Louisiana and ultimately followed the head coach to Florida. Juluke spent the last eight seasons working for Napier.

Now the running backs coach will be working for a third SEC program in the last decade. He could be another Will Stein hire with strong ties to Louisiana.

A strong recruiting profile

Kentucky needs to get this hire across the finish line, but it seems clear at this moment that the program is prioritizing Louisiana recruiting. The Cats just made a big push to sign four-star wideout Kenny Darby to close out the 2026 early signing period. We should expect activity in the Bayou State to continue with both Jabbar Juluke and Joe Sloan on the staff.

At Florida, Juluke was the lead recruiter for Trevor Etienne. Throughout his time in Gainesville, Juluke had a heavy presence in New Orleans as Florida attempted to build out rosters with a clear plan to recruit in the Bayou.

However, the running backs coach did recruit in other areas. Juluke pursued targets in Mississippi and Metro Atlanta. Juluke has clear ties to Louisiana, but proved to be an effective traditional SEC footprint recruiter for the Gators. He was the primary recruiter for 1,000-yard rusher Jadan Baugh and earned a commitment from Metro Atlanta blue-chip running back Carsyn Baker until a head coach firing led to a flip to Texas A&M.

Juluke was promoted to associate head coach by Napier, and played a big role in the recruiting operation at Florida that signed a pair of top-10 recruiting classes during Napier’s short stint.

Would check SEC experience and scheme fit box

Will Stein is a first-time head coach who will be coaching in the SEC for the first time in his career next season. Hiring staffers with experience in this league was an important box to check. Finding coaches who also fit the scheme box for Stein was also an important box to check.

Jabbar Juluke appears to check both of those boxes.

This is a proven recruiter who has won battles on the trail in the SEC. Juluke signed multiple four-star tailbacks at Florida and did it in multiple states. He’s also been a long-time Napier assistant in a wide zone offense. Stein will also use the wide zone concept as a huge staple of his offense. Juluke has coached in this scheme and should have a strong knowledge base of what type of players can succeed in this system.

If the Cats can get this hire across the finish line, Juluke can check a ton of boxes. This is a proven SEC assistant with a strong recruiting track record, familiarity to the offensive scheme that Stein will be bringing to Lexington, and previous work experience with Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator.