Florida looks to become the second SEC team to name a new assistant coach following signing day as West Virginia running backs coach JaJuan Seider is reportedly set to join Jim McElwain’s Gator staff.
Seider is a well-respected recruiter in the south Florida area, he’s originally from Belle Glade, Florida, and played for West Virginia before transferring and finishing his playing career at Florida A&M. Before coaching at West Virginia, Seider served as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for Marshall for three seasons.
News of Seider’s addition was first detailed by Mike Huguenin of Gridiron Now. According to Huguenin, Florida’s current running backs coach Tim Skipper may be moving to the defensive side of the ball. While that move may seem odd, Skipper was a linebacker in college and has coached the position in the past.
During his National Signing Day press conference, McElwain discussed other schools negatively recruiting his program.
“The one thing is,” McElwain said, “when you’re at a place like the University of Florida, you’re a target because everybody knows the ability and what can happen as this thing keeps growing. We’ll take a lot of targets. We’ll take some of that stuff, and yet our coaches won’t do that. We’re not going to stoop to that level because that’s not the level that is the Florida Gators. It’s that simple.
“It is what it is today. The ability to put anything you want out there, really nameless, and not be responsible for it, that happens. We got a good laugh out of it, too, when it was getting hit. The guys who obviously jumped back onboard that they were trying to sway, so…”
The school McElwain was rumored to be focusing on was Miami. Adding an assistant coach with an extensive history and network in the South Florida area could be his way of declaring he’s coming for the prospects closest to Miami.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
