Florida Football: Who is Chargers assistant DB coach Will Harris?

One of the musings we here at Hail Florida Hail had earlier this week was whether or not Billy Napier was moving with enough haste to fill his staff for Florida football. We noted at the time that Los Angeles Chargers assistant defensive backs coach Will Harris was heavily rumored to be the guy Napier was going to tab to be his secondary coach.

There continue to be clues that Harris will be the man coming to Gainesville, but who exactly is Harris?

Florida Football: Back to school

After winning his state title game yesterday, Florida commit Teddy Foster hinted to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that a new defensive backs coach is on the way:

"“I’m locked in. I’m a Gator. We just got our new DB coach in. He’ll be in there Monday with the new guys and I’ll meet him next week sometime. I’m locked in. I’m a Gator right now. I’m a Gator forever.”"

Harris has been liking a number of Tweets from Florida football players and commits for what it is worth.

Currently, Harris is the assistant defensive backs coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. The secondary for LA hasn’t been great this season, with the Chargers ranking 28th in the NFL in opponent yards per passing attempt.

Before the NFL, Harris spent one season as the defensive coordinator for Georgia Southern. The Eagles didn’t have a great defense in 2022 and gave up 33.7 points per game, 20th worst in the country.

Notably, Harris spent the 2021 season with the Washington Huskies. While the squad was a train wreck, and head coach Jimmy Lake was fired midway through the season, the secondary for Washington was solid. Under Harris, Washington was the best in the nation at opponent’s yards per passing attempt, allowing just 5.5 yards per attempt.

Harris has previous coaching stops at San Jose State, Dixie College, Humboldt State, and Northwestern Oklahoma State.