Jaguars announce bevy of personnel staff additions, promotions

Jaguars announce bevy of personnel staff additions, promotions

The Jaguars announced a bevy of moves within their personnel department Monday, formalizing nine staff additions and eight promotions involving football administration, scouting, player and personnel relations, and player engagement.

Jacksonville hired Tom Gamble as senior personnel executive; Chris Ash as a pro scout; Corey Peters and Josh Scobey (not to be confused with former Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee) as college scouts; Mimi Bolden-Morris, Austin Leake and Max Rosenthal as scouting assistants; Tara Goolsby as player finance and football administration assistant; and Savannah Reier as manager of player and personnel relations.

Gamble and Ash‘s appointments had previously been reported.

Both are returning to the team after previous stints with Jacksonville: Gamble will occupy the same role he held in 2021 with the Jaguars, while Ash has moved to scouting after coaching the team’s safeties the same year. Ash coached Las Vegas’ defensive backs from 2022-23.

A 13-year NFL defensive lineman, Peters finished his playing career with the Jaguars in 2022 and is now embarking on a career in scouting, of note.

The Jaguars promoted John Stevenson to assistant director of college scouting; Ryan Stamper to national scout; Jason DesJarlais to pro scout; Holden McAbee, Antonio Robinson, Mickeel Stewart and Tyler Walker to college scouting roles; and Nikki Donoff to player engagement manager.

Find brief biographies for each staff member below, provided by Jaguars public relations.

Additions

Tom Gamble: Gamble is entering his 31st season in the NFL. He spent the last two seasons as the director of player personnel for the University of Michigan (2022-23), who in 2023 were crowned the College Football Playoff National Champions. In 2021, he served as a senior personnel executive for Jacksonville.

Chris Ash: Ash returns to Jacksonville after two years as the defensive backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders (2022-23). In 2021, he served as the Jaguars’ secondary coach. Ash coached collegiately for 24 years, including roles as head coach at Rutgers (2016-19) and defensive coordinator at Texas (2020), Ohio State (2014-15), Arkansas (2013) and Wisconsin (2011-12).

Corey Peters: A longtime NFL defensive lineman, Peters played five seasons in Atlanta (2010-14) and six in Arizona (2016-21). He finished his career in Jacksonville in 2022, helping the Jaguars to the divisional round of the playoffs. He was drafted by the Falcons in the third round (83rd overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Kentucky.

Josh Scobey: Scobey spent the past 12 seasons (2010-23) with the Arizona Cardinals’ scouting department, most recently as their director of college scouting (2022-23). He was also drafted by the Cardinals in the sixth round (185th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft.

Mimi Bolden-Morris: Bolden-Morris most recently served as director of operations for women’s basketball at the College of William & Mary in 2023. Before arriving at William & Mary, Bolden-Morris spent the 2022 season as an offensive graduate assistant/assistant quarterbacks coach for the University of Michigan.

Austin Leake: Leake spent the past two seasons as director of player personnel for Army West Point (2023-24) and Eastern Illinois University (2023). Before going into player personnel, Leake coached tight ends at Henderson University (2022) and was a longtime high school coach, including one season as head coach at Mark Twain High School (2021) in Center, Missouri.

Max Rosenthal: Rosenthal served as an offensive and special teams quality control coach at the University of Illinois in 2023. The Chicago-area native was a two-year starter at fullback for Michigan State University prior to spending the final year of his playing career at Illinois.

Tara Goolsby: Goolsby joins the Jaguars as player finance and football administration assistant from Samford University’s football program, where she was director of football management (2022-24) and chief of staff (2024). She is a two-time graduate of Tulane University, receiving her J.D. in 2022.

Savannah Reier: Reier was most recently the director of on-campus recruiting at the University of Southern California (2024). Before entering that role, she spent two years at the University of Hawai’i as director of football recruiting (2023) and director of player development for the women’s basketball program (2022).

Promotions

John Stevenson: Stevenson was promoted to assistant director of college scouting after two seasons as a national scout. He spent six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers’ scouting department prior to Jacksonville, most recently as a college scout (2017-21).

Ryan Stamper: After three seasons as director of player assessment in pro scouting, Stamper has been promoted to national scout. Before joining the Jaguars, he spent nine seasons at Ohio State and was named assistant athletic director for player development in 2018.

Jason DesJarlais: DesJarlais has been promoted to pro scout after spending 18 years as a college scout in the Southeast and Midwest. He first came to the Jaguars in 2007 as the Bears-Lions-Eagles-Talent-Organization (BLESTO) scout.

Holden McAbee: McAbee was promoted to college scout after two seasons as a scouting assistant. Prior to joining the Jaguars, he served as director of player personnel at Gardner-Webb University (2021), where he led the evaluations and operations of the recruiting department.

Antonio Robinson: Robinson will once again serve as a college scout after two seasons as the NFS scout. Hired by the Jaguars in 2013, he spent the prior 10 years as a college scout.

Mickeel Stewart: After two seasons as a scouting assistant, Stewart has been promoted to college scout. Before coming to the Jaguars, he served as the assistant director of scouting and recruiting communications at West Virginia University.

Tyler Walker: Walker was promoted to college scout after three seasons as a scouting assistant. He came to the Jaguars after seven years with the University of Oregon, most recently as a pro liaison (2020-21).

Nikki Donoff: Donoff has been promoted to player engagement manager as she enters her third season with the Jaguars. She is a graduate of Georgia Southern University, where she worked as a football operations assistant.