GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jon Sumrall made his first hires as Florida’s football coach Thursday, bringing aboard Georgia Tech’s Buster Faulkner as offensive coordinator and Kentucky’s Brad White as defensive coordinator.
Both got three-year contracts to join Sumrall in Gainesville and likely will be considered solid hires considering their experience in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.
Faulkner, 44, joined Georgia Tech in 2023 after three seasons as a quality control assistant at Georgia, where he worked with quarterbacks for national title teams in 2021 and 2022. Stetson Bennett threw for nearly 7,000 yards and 56 touchdowns as a two-year starter.
Faulker found even more success in three years with quarterback Haynes King in Atlanta. King threw for 7,653 yards, with 53 TDs and 23 interceptions. He also ran for 36 scores.
The year before coach Brent Key and Faulkner arrived at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets averaged 17.1 points. They improved to 31.1 points per game in 2023, 28.5 points a game in 2024 and 33.1 points a game this season.
Faulker’s offenses set records at Arkansas State (2016-18), landing him on Georgia’s radar. He played quarterback at Valdosta State (2000-03), where he learned the Air Raid attack first made famous by late coach Mike Leach.
“I may be a defensive guy, but I want to be more of a defensive guy like … Bob Stoops,” Sumrall said earlier this week. “I want the scoreboard to light up.”
Florida should be able to shut down opponents, too.
The 43-year-old White spent the last eight years in Lexington, including seven of those in charge of the Wildcats’ defense. Sumrall and White overlapped on that side of the ball between 2019 and 2021, including working their final year together as co-DCs. Sumrall left Kentucky to become Troy’s coach in 2022 and spent the last two years at Tulane.
Under White’s direction, Kentucky fielded defenses that ranked in the top 25 nationally in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. His unit ranked sixth nationally in 2018 thanks in part to edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen recorded 17 sacks and five forced fumbles as a redshirt junior.
He went on to become the seventh pick by Jacksonville in the 2019 NFL draft and now owns the franchise’s sacks record with 59 and counting.
“First of all, they’re getting a great person, a great communicator, a guy that wants the best for his players,” Hines-Allen said. “He was my positional coach when I had him, and the time we spent together helped me develop and be where I am today. I give him a lot of credit and a lot of respect and love.
“He’s done a lot of good things for that program. Hopefully he continues to have that success at Florida.”
Current Jaguars coach Liam Coen, who was Kentucky’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2023, faced White’s defense daily and called him “one of the smarter guys I’ve been around at any level.”
“True teacher of the game,” Coen added. “I learned so much from Brad in terms of the way that he saw the game. He is one of the more detailed, organized coaches I’ve been around in terms of his process throughout the week, his checklists throughout the week and then his game plans to be able to go and cause issues for people.
“It gave me problems every day in practice. It’s multiple. He knows how to scheme people up.”
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Mark Long, The Associated Press
