Analyzing Florida’s options following the NFL departure of Darnell Stapleton..
Darnell Stapleton, the offensive line coach, has accepted a position with the Washington Commanders, so the Florida Gators will be looking to replace him. With Spring football just a few weeks away, Head Coach Billy Napier must rapidly fill another coaching position following Stapleton’s move into the National Football League.
Stapleton was one of Napier’s first hires, and in the two years that Napier has been the Gators’ head coach, his departure from the team makes him the eighth assistant to leave the club.
Gator Country examines Florida’s possibilities for their next coaching hire.
HIRE ANOTHER OFFENSIVE LINE COACH.
Since his time at Louisiana, Napier has been a head coach for six seasons. Florida now employs one offensive line coach (Rob Sale), but in five of those seasons, he has had two offensive line coaches on his staff. Under Napier, the Gators had two offensive line coaches in 2022 and 2023.
During his inaugural press conference in 2021, Napier stated, “You’ve got to coach five players when you’re coaching offensive line.” No coach is in charge of five defensive backs. Why you wouldn’t have two individuals coaching the offensive line is beyond me.
It’s still possible for Florida to promote someone from within in 2024 even if they hire a new offensive line coach. If Florida were to go in that path, Russ Callaway would be the front-runner for the position.
Even though Napier has always favored having two offensive line coaches, he refrained from mentioning it in 2020 because Louisiana only had a special teams coordinator and one offensive line coach for that year.
