Billy Napier might be losing a member of his staff to a fellow Southeastern Conference school again if a report that emerged on Thursday proves true.
Florida football inside linebackers coach Jay Bateman is apparently on the move to the Texas A&M Aggies to fill their defensive coordinator vacancy, according to TexAg’s Billy Liucci on X, formerly known as Twitter. Bateman would join former Gators defensive line coach Sean Spencer in College Station. Spencer holds the same position with his new program.
Bateman began his coaching career in the mid-1990s, coaching Benedictine High School as an assistant before returning to school at Hampden-Sydney to coach as a grad student. His first true collegiate job came at Siena College, where he was the defensive coordinator in 1999 before taking over as head coach from 2000-03.
Bateman moved on to Richmond, Elon, Lehigh, Elon, Ball State and Army in various capacities over the next 15 years before getting his big break as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach with the North Carolina Tar Heels from 2019-2021. Since then, he has been in Gainesville with the Gators.
Bateman’s first season with Florida featured his influence on two NFL draft picks: Ventrell Miller was picked in the fourth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars and Amari Burney was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the sixth round.
This past season, he was credited with the development of linebackers Shemar James and Scooby Williams.
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