After a season in which Florida’s defense struggled tremendously, especially against the pass, coach Dan Mullen is making some changes with the defensive staff.
According to multiple reports, UF has fired safeties coach Ron English and cornerback coach Torrian Gray. Both changes had been rumored, but they are now official. The news was first reported by 247Sports’ Thomas Goldkamp.
Goldkamp reported that the Gators are unlikely to part ways with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham despite the issues on his side of the ball in 2020. Grantham has been with Mullen since his final season at Mississippi State.
English was the head coach at Eastern Michigan from 2009-13 before he was fired for giving a profane speech at a team meeting that included a homophobic slur. Prior to joining the Gators’ coaching staff, he served as safeties coach under Mullen at Mississippi State in 2017 before accepting the same role at UF.
Gray, on the other hand, was a longtime defensive backs coach for Virginia Tech. He left to become Florida’s defensive backs coach in 2016 under Jim McElwain, a role he only had for one season before he departed for the NFL’s Washington Redskins. He returned to coach cornerbacks at UF last season.
Gray has been linked to a position at South Carolina, which just hired Shane Beamer as its head coach. Beamer and Gray have a history of coaching together at Virginia Tech.
According to Goldkamp’s report, a key target to join the Gators coaching staff is former South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson. He was the defensive backs coach at Florida under Will Muschamp from 2011-14, and he was dismissed along with Muschamp at USC this fall. Robinson is known for his recruiting prowess, and he earned a reputation for landing many of the players that bolstered the Gators’ DBU status.
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