Reports: Florida DL coach Chris Rumph rebuffs Clemson offer to stay with Gators

By Adam Silverstein
January 19, 2017
Reports: Florida DL coach Chris Rumph rebuffs Clemson offer to stay with Gators
Football

One of the nation’s best defensive line coaches and recruiters will remain with the Florida Gators, rejecting advances from the national champion Clemson Tigers to leave the program for presumably a similar position, according to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.

Rumph, who head coach Jim McElwain plucked from Texas as part of his first staff in 2015, has done a tremendous job leading Florida’s defensive front in his two seasons with the program.

He played a major role in the continued development of Jonathan Bullard a year ago and is a big reason why redshirt junior defensive tackle Caleb Brantley has an opportunity to be selected in the first two days of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Rumph made a name for himself coaching at Clemson from 2006-08 before being swiped away by Alabama and coach Nick Saban in 2011. After three years with the Crimson Tide, Rumph moved over to the Longhorns but only spent one year in the Big 12 before deciding to return to the SEC with the Gators.

It would have been a massive blow for Florida, which is already down two assistants entering National Signing Day in two weeks, to lose Rumph, not only from an on-field coaching perspective but also because of his tremendous recruiting ability and the hard-nosed attitude he adds to the locker room. However, with his son a commit at Duke, Rumph moving the family closer to North Carolina would have made some sense. Luckily for the Gators, he will be staying put.

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