Shannon will call defensive plays for Gators
He’ll fill in for the departed Collins in Outback Bowl.
GAINESVILLE — No. 20 Florida will have Randy Shannon call defensive plays for the Outback Bowl.
Coach Jim McElwain made the announcement Monday, saying Shannon will fill in for recently departed defensive coordinator Geoff Collins against 21st-ranked Iowa. Temple hired Collins as its head coach last week.
Although Shannon has the titles of associate head coach and co-defensive coor- dinator, Collins called the plays this season. Shannon worked primarily as linebackers coach.
Shannon also will assume Collins’ role as the safeties coach this month. Quality control assistant Mark DeBastiani will work with the linebackers in place of Shannon.
“He’s been a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for more than 10 years in I-AA football; been coaching for over 20,” McElwain s a i d of DeBasti a ni . “We’re really fortunate to have coaches like that in support roles so we’re not missing a beat with that group.”
Shannon served as Miami’s defensive coordinator (200106) before becoming the Hurricanes’ head coach in 2007. McElwain promoted quality control assistant Mark DeBastiani to linebackers coach.
“Continuity in what we’re doing is important and a couple other factors as we kind of look at it and make sure we answer some recruiting needs that we have,” McElwain said. “I’m excited for (the defense). They’ve been doing a good job with what we’ve been doing, and obviously Randy is more than qualified for that position.”
McElwain says he will wait until January to announce Collins’ successor for the 2017 season.
McElwain says “we’re not going to make any full-time decisions on that until after the bowl games out of respect for coaches and people who are coaching in other programs and that kind of thing. I just don’t think it’s right this time of year.”
Del Rio calls some fans ‘clowns’: Give quarterback Luke Del Rio this much credit — he’s not afraid to speak his mind.
The Gators signal caller, who already had his Twitter a c c ount s c r ut i ni z e d t hi s season, fired off a couple of tweets Monday aimed at college football fans who don’t share his opinion on the topic of the day.
The college football world has been abuzz about Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey’s decision to forgo an opportunity to play in the Sun Bowl so he can begin focusing on his pro career. Coming in the aftermath of LSU RB Leonard Fournette’s decision to pull out of the Citrus Bowl for similar reasons, it appears to have signaled a new trend for highly coveted NFL prospects.
Del Rio, who has a unique perspective on the situation as the son of NFL head coach Jack Del Rio, came out in support of the decisions from Fournette and McCaffrey. He also called college football fans who disagreed (and giving the players a hard time in a process) “clowns” in the tweet:
“All of the CFB fans giving @_fournette and @CMccaffrey5 a hard time for not plying in their bowl games are clowns. If you were in thier shoes you would do the same. What is there to gian from one more game? They aren’t leaving their teammates to dry...”
SEC Country contributed to this story.