When Austin Armstrong departed Florida Football to be the defensive coordinator at Houston, a spot opened up Billy Napier needed to fill on his staff. Napier has taken his time in filling the vacancy, and there hasn't been much outward momentum in terms of who the Gators were getting to join.
Today, reports surfaced that Napier is finally targeting someone and will be interviewing a candidate with family ties to Florida.
Florida Football: Welcome Back
Zach Goodall of Swamp247 and Zach Abolverdi of Gators Online are reporting that Florida is interviewing Jacksonville State defensive coordinator Vinnie Sunseri. He is the son of Sal Sunseri, who was the defensive line coach for Florida in 2018.
It is unclear whether Vinnie Sunseri is interviewing to be the defensive coordinator or if it would be for a different role within the staff. Last year, Armstrong was the "defensive coordinator," but in reality, it was Ron Roberts running the show on defense.
Sunseri is 33, played linebacker at Alabama from 2011 to 2013, and had a three-year stint in the NFL from 2014 to 2016.
Sunseri has spent time as an assistant with the New England Patriots, and last year, he was the safeties coach with the Washington Huskies. This offseason, he was hired to be the defensive coordinator for Jacksonville State.
Rising Star With Question Marks
It seems far-fetched to believe that Florida would be looking for Sunseri to come in and be the true defensive coordinator. He has zero experience as a DC, and it doesn't feel that Roberts would likely cede his role to Sunseri after essentially pushing Armstrong out the door.
Having Sunseri slot in as a safeties coach would make more sense, though it would raise question marks about why Sunseri would have left Washington to be a DC, only to leave his DC position to go back and be a position coach.
Last year, the Huskies had four safeties play in at least nine games. Makell Esteen saw the most notable improvement in play, but the other three safeties all had PFF grades under 70 in 2024, with two of three seeing a double-digit drop in their grade from 2023.