Tag: Darnell Stapleton

Former Rutgers offensive lineman Darnell Stapleton joins the Washington Commanders

Former Rutgers standout Darnell Stapleton is set to join the Washington Commanders.

Darnell Stapleton, a former Rutgers football offensive lineman, is heading to the NFL. Stapleton, last with Florida, will be an assistant offensive line coach with the Washington Commanders.

In 2006, Stapleton was a part of Rutgers football’s best-ever team, becoming a finalist for the Rimington Award (given to the nation’s top center). He remains one of the top offensive linemen in program history.

Stapleton played in the NFL for four seasons, spending his first three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers after signing as an undrafted rookie free agent. With the Steelers, he won Super Bowl XL.

In 2010, he signed with the New England Patriots in what was his final season in the NFL as a player.

From there, he transitioned to coaching. In 2013, he was a graduate assistant as part of then-head coach Kyle Flood’s staff. He left Rutgers the following year to become the offensive line coach at Bucknell.

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He joined Florida in 2022 as their offensive line coach.

 

Stapleton, who has never coached at the NFL level, is an intriguing hire by new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. He will work under offensive line coach Bobby Johnson.

 

REPORT: Florida co-OL coach accepts position with Washington Commanders

Darnell Stapleton is leaving to join the Washington Commanders as an assistant offensive line coach.

The Florida football program is losing its co-offensive line coordinator to the National Football League, according to a report from Swamp247.

Darnell Stapleton, who joined head coach Billy Napier’s debut staff in 2022 and spent two years in Gainesville as one of two full-time offensive line coaches, is leaving to join the Washington Commanders as an assistant offensive line coach.

Stapleton followed Napier from the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns to the Swamp after serving as an off-field offensive line assistant in 2021. His contract was extended by the Gators back in January but the lure of the bright lights clearly trumped what Florida has to offer.

The 38-year-old gridiron veteran played just one year in the NFL but made it count — he was on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster for the 2008-09 season and started in the 2009 Super Bowl at right guard. He was also a finalist for the 2006 Rimington Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s top collegiate center.

Current Florida offensive line coach Rob Sale made up the other half of the O-line coaching pair but it still remains unclear how Napier and Co. plan on filling the void left behind by Stapleton.

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2024 four-star DL prospect to make first Florida visit

The Gators look to continue building their 2024 recruiting class, hosting one of the best DL prospects in the nation just five days before their annual Orange and Blue spring game.

The Florida Gators 2024 class is already among 247Sports’ top 10 in its national recruiting rankings. It looks like Billy Napier is keen on continuing to climb up the rankings, with a highly sought-after defensive line prospect set to make his first visit to Gainesville next week.

[autotag]Jordan Thomas[/autotag], 247Sports’ No. 1 player in the state of New Jersey, has told the publication that he will be making his first visit to Florida on April 8. The 6-foot-5-inch, 296-pound defensive lineman’s visit comes just five days before the Gators’ Orange and Blue spring game on Thursday, April 13. Thomas received his offer in June of last year, with area recruiter [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] and defensive line coach [autotag]Sean Spencer[/autotag] in constant communication with him since.

The Don Bosco Prep (New Jersey) star has been exploring his options this spring, with Thomas having visited Georgia twice in 2023, once in January, and once in March. In addition to the two SEC East programs, Thomas has also visited Rutgers, South Carolina, Syracuse and Maryland throughout his recruitment process. He is expected to be in State College this Saturday to see a Penn State practice first-hand.

According to the 247Sports composite, which factors in all the major recruiting outlets, Thomas is the No. 134 recruit in the 2024 class, the No. 16 defensive lineman, and the No. 1 prospect in the state of New Jersey.

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Florida’s offensive line a key focus for ESPN heading into 2023

Florida’s offensive line was a major reason the team wasn’t a complete disaster in 2022, and now the Gators have to replace four starters in the trenches.

Florida’s offensive line was among the best in the SEC and college football a season ago. Unfortunately, the Gators are replacing four starters on the offensive line after losing a pair of seniors to the NFL draft and two more to Southern California via the transfer portal.

UF will have center [autotag]Kingsley Eguakun[/autotag] returning, but gone are left tackle [autotag]Richard Gouraige[/autotag], left guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag], right guard [autotag]O’Cyrus Torrence[/autotag] and right tackle [autotag]Michael Tarquin[/autotag]. Replacing those four is the top storyline of Florida’s spring, according to ESPN’s Chris Low and Hary Lyles Jr., who dove into each SEC program at the start of spring ball.

The Gators brought in three transfers on the offensive line over the offseason. Alabama‘s [autotag]Damieon George Jr[/autotag]. and former five-star Kentucky signee [autotag]Kiyaunta Goodwin[/autotag] should get a shot to play tackle for Florida along with a returning [autotag]Austin Barber[/autotag], and Baylor transfers [autotag]Micah Mazzccua[/autotag] should step immediately into one of the vacant starting guard spots.

While it is almost a complete turnover in the trenches, Florida fans should still feel confident, according to Low and Lyles.

“The Gator faithful should feel confident in the abilities of offensive coordinator [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] and offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] to get this group together, given their track record with [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s great offensive lines at Louisiana, which produced multiple NFL draft picks,” the ESPN story read.

Low and Lyles also pointed a newcomer on the team to watch and chose to pick a player that will be behind the offensive line transfers mentioned above. Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] will be competing with [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] for the starting quarterback job, and his experience in the Big Ten might give him the upper leg. Both he and the offensive line need to excel for Florida to have a bounce-back year.

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This 4-star offensive tackle sets his return visit date with Florida

Chalk up another big-time visitor next month!

The month of March is looking to be a big one for Florida football’s recruiting efforts as the program gets set to host a handful of prep prospects in Gainesville.

Among those who have announced their plans to head to Hogtown next month is four-star offensive tackle [autotag]Ethan Calloway[/autotag] out of Mooresville (North Carolina) Lake Norman in the 2024 class. The 6-foot-7-inch, 300-pound behemoth has made a stop in the Swamp before to watch the Gators trounce the South Carolina Gamecocks and is planning to make a multi-day visit with [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and Co. on March 9 and 10, he told Swamp247 recently.

The high school junior’s recruitment has been spearheaded by offensive coordinator/offensive line coach [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] and assistant offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag], who have put in time with Calloway since his mid-season visit. Speaking of which, the Orange and Blue made a great impression on him the first time around.

“The atmosphere was great before and after,” he told Gators Online previously. “The offensive line coaches spent a lot of time with me. I know they had a lot of recruits there, so that meant a lot. Great conversations with Coach Sale and Stapleton. I learned a lot about how they do things and what they are looking for.

“I go on these visits with no expectations. The fact that they had done so much homework on me and sought me out to talk and make an offer was unexpected. I knew the Gators were interested, but that changed the night for me. They are trending in the right direction as a team too.”

The coveted offensive lineman also has offers from the Auburn Tigers, Florida State Seminoles, LSU Tigers, North Carolina Tar Heels, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tennessee Volunteers and Wisconsin Badgers, among many others.

Calloway is ranked No. 191 overall and No. 9 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while On3 has him at Nos. 126 and 8, respectively, according to its independent rankings. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has the North Carolina State Wolfpack out front for his services with a 30.5% chance of landing him, while the Virginia Tech Hokies, Appalachian State Mountaineers and Penn State follow behind at 20.2%, 11.7% and 9.8%, respectively.

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2024 offensive line prospect offered by Florida, to visit campus

OL prospect Juan Minaya was recently offered by the Florida Gators and plans to make a visit soon.

With the Florida Gators’ 2022 offensive line playing so well in [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s first season in charge, it’s no surprise that prospects have begun to take notice of the Orange and Blue.

One prospect who recently spoke highly of the Gators is [autotag]Juan Minaya[/autotag], a 6-foot-6-inch, 330-pound offensive lineman from Paramus, New Jersey. Minaya was recently offered by Florida’s staff on January 20 after multiple trips to see the Paramus High School player in person.

Minaya recently spoke to On3 and said that his relationship with the Florida Gators is in its early stages. He praised offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag], mentioning their New Jersey connections and his genuine presence as positives.

In that same conversation, Minaya mentioned that he will be visiting Gainesville in person, but doesn’t have a date scheduled yet. He is targeting March or April as potential dates to visit.

Napier and his staff are in for a competitive recruitment when it comes to Minaya. According to the On3 Consensus, Minaya is considered a three-star prospect and the No. 10 overall player in the state of New Jersey. While not as highly ranked as other offensive line targets, his size has some of the top programs in the country after his services.

In addition to Florida, he holds offers from programs like Penn State, Miami, Ole Miss, Michigan State and others, with the Nittany Lions currently leading. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine currently gives James Franklin’s program a 45.9% chance of landing him, probably due to the multiple visits he has made to Happy Valley.

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Florida coaches visit Louisiana 3-star OT commit

Florida coaches were out and about earlier in the week, and a trio of them checked in with offensive line commit Caden Jones Monday.

A trio of Florida coaches visited De La Salle three-star offensive tackle [autotag]Caden Jones[/autotag], the lone unsigned commit in the 2023recruiting class, on Monday, according to 247Sports.

Jones committed after the early signing period, so he has to wait until national signing day to officially join the class. That means he could flip if another program pressed hard enough, which explains why Florida sent three staff members out to him once the contact period opened up.

Offensive line coaches [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] and [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] and running backs coach/area recruiter [autotag]Jabbar Juluke[/autotag] have taken point on this recruitment. Juluke’s ties to the state of Louisiana have come in hand plenty of times during the Billy Napier era at Florida, and Sale and Stapleton will be Jones’ position coaches once he gets on campus. Napier’s staff recruited Jones while ULL too, so Jones is quite familiar with the group.

They went out to visit Jones because he is unsure if he’ll be able to get back on campus before signing day with a loaded basketball schedule.

Jones will join fellow linemen [autotag]Roderick Kearney[/autotag], [autotag]Knijeah Harris [/autotag]and B[autotag]ryce Lovett[/autotag] in the class of 2023 and should help add some depth to a position room that just lost four starters.

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Florida football still in mix for this 5-star offensive tackle

Florida still has hopes of landing an elite offensive tackle in the 2023 cycle, but it’ll take a very strong push down the stretch to get the job done.

Back in June, five-star offensive tackle Samson Okunlola named the Florida Gators to his top nine. Since then, programs like Alabama, Miami and Michigan State have taken center stage in the elite Thayer Academy (Brockton, Massachusetts) recruit’s process, but that doesn’t mean the Gators are out of the race entirely.

The Gators are still actively pursuing Okunlola, according to a report from 247Sports. The team sent assistant offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] and running backs coach [autotag]Jabbar Juluke[/autotag] to stop by his school during the bye week, and they pushed the idea of early playing time in the Swamp. Stapleton and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] are his main contacts at UF and they’ve kept in touch with him over the past few months.

“Off the field, they are great dudes and I have been talking to them a lot over time,” Okunlola said of Sale and Stapleton. “They are just great dudes in general. They say I am a major priority for them and a top recruit for them. They said they love my skills. Playing early has always been a great goal of mine. I feel like I could have a chance to play as a freshman there.”

Okunlola has used three official visits so far, one to each of the programs named earlier. The Hurricanes are viewed as the leader right now in this race, but a late trip to Gainesville could change that. While nothing is scheduled right now, Okunlola has talked about taking a visit in November or December.

He’s one of the few remaining uncommitted five-star recruits in the class of 2023, so expect Florida to push hard for him down the stretch. 247Sports has Okunlola at No. 18 overall in its composite rankings and at No. 3 among offensive tackles.

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Florida football still in mix for this 5-star offensive tackle

Florida still has hopes of landing an elite offensive tackle in the 2023 cycle, but it’ll take a very strong push down the stretch to get the job done.

Back in June, five-star offensive tackle Samson Okunlola named the Florida Gators to his top nine. Since then, programs like Alabama, Miami and Michigan State have taken center stage in the elite Thayer Academy (Brockton, Massachusetts) recruit’s process, but that doesn’t mean the Gators are out of the race entirely.

The Gators are still actively pursuing Okunlola, according to a report from 247Sports. The team sent assistant offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] and running backs coach [autotag]Jabbar Juluke[/autotag] to stop by his school during the bye week, and they pushed the idea of early playing time in the Swamp. Stapleton and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] are his main contacts at UF and they’ve kept in touch with him over the past few months.

“Off the field, they are great dudes and I have been talking to them a lot over time,” Okunlola said of Sale and Stapleton. “They are just great dudes in general. They say I am a major priority for them and a top recruit for them. They said they love my skills. Playing early has always been a great goal of mine. I feel like I could have a chance to play as a freshman there.”

Okunlola has used three official visits so far, one to each of the programs named earlier. The Hurricanes are viewed as the leader right now in this race, but a late trip to Gainesville could change that. While nothing is scheduled right now, Okunlola has talked about taking a visit in November or December.

He’s one of the few remaining uncommitted five-star recruits in the class of 2023, so expect Florida to push hard for him down the stretch. 247Sports has Okunlola at No. 18 overall in its composite rankings and at No. 3 among offensive tackles.

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Two Florida coaches in top 15 of 247Sports’ recruiter rankings

Florida’s coaching staff has been on a roll lately, and much of it is thanks to two men in particular. 247Sports has them in their top 15.

When [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] assembled his staff at the University of Florida, he said that he wanted to prioritize recruiting. Twenty commitments into the class of 2023 and one class of 2024 four-star verbally pledge to the Orange and Blue, it’s safe to say that Napier was successful, and the numbers back it up.

Co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach [autotag]Sean Spencer[/autotag] is ranked No. 7 on the 247Sports 2023 football recruiter rankings, and [autotag]Keary Colbert[/autotag] is ranked No. 11, which is good for the second-highest placement of any wide receivers coach on the list.

Spencer has been the primary recruiter on five of Florida’s commitments and has played a secondary role in the recruitment of two others. He’s directly responsible for the additions of No. 70 [autotag]Kelby Collins[/autotag], No. 145 [autotag]Will Norman[/autotag], No. 205 [autotag]Isaiah Nixon[/autotag], No. 218 [autotag]Kamran James[/autotag] and four-star [autotag]Gavin Hill[/autotag]. Despite the battery of four-stars committed to Florida thanks to Spencer, he ranks fourth among defensive line recruiters in the country. Clemson‘s Nick Eason, Notre Dame‘s Al Washington and Alabama‘s Freddie Roach are all ranked above Spencer in ascending order.

Still, it’s clear that coach Chaos’ stint in the NFL paid off, and he’s once again at the top of the recruiting game. Florida has the potential to bring in the strongest defensive line classes in the upcoming cycle, assuming all commitments put pen to paper during one of the signing periods.

Colbert has been the primary on five recruits as well, all of whom will play receiver for UF. No. 78 [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] leads the group and should be paired with No. 142 [autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] to do some damage. Four-stars [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] and [autotag]Creed Whittemore[/autotag] round out the blue-chip names in the class and three-star [autotag]Tyree Patterson[/autotag] adds some depth to the class. And there’s potential to add more receivers to the group.

The only other receivers coach ranked higher by 247Sports is Ohio State‘s Brian Hartline, who has brought in four recruits that average a 96.48 grade. The next receivers coach on the list is Texas’ Brennan Marion at No. 20 and three commits under his belt.

Florida’s other co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach [autotag]Patrick Toney[/autotag] is ranked No. 31 and the only other Gator inside the top 100. Cornerbacks coach [autotag]Corey Raymond[/autotag] should be next to break that threshold if he can add one of his high-profile targets. Currently ranked No. 101, adding either four-star [autotag]Dijon Johnson[/autotag] or five-star [autotag]Cormani McClain[/autotag] should do the trick for Raymond.

Outside linebackers coach [autotag]Mike Peterson[/autotag] is ranked No. 111, offensive coordinator and offense line coach [autotag]Rob Sale[/autotag] is ranked No. 188, inside linebacker coach [autotag]Jay Bateman[/autotag] is No. 190, tight ends coach [autotag]William Peagler[/autotag] is No. 240 and running backs coach [autotag]Jabbar Juluke[/autotag] rounds out the group at No. 338 on the list. Assistant offensive line coach [autotag]Darnell Stapleton[/autotag] received secondary credits for four commitments and ranks No. 259 as well.

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