Mullen Taps Todd Grantham as Defensive Coordinator

Florida Football head coach Dan Mullen is continuing to assemble his coaching staff and has decided to bring Todd Grantham aboard as defensive coordinator.

Grantham served in the same capacity under Mullen at Mississippi State. This continues the trend of Mullen bringing over coaches he worked with in Starkville. The Grantham hire comes just two days after the Gators hired Billy Gonzales and Johny Hevesy, who were both previously a part of the Mississippi State staff. Grantham thanked Mississippi State via twitter following his departure.

pic.twitter.com/cxwHVDTLl4

— Todd Grantham (@CoachTGrantham) November 30, 2017

He replaces Randy Shannon who was not retained as part of the Gators staff. Grantham will be looking to improve a unit that regressed a bit in 2017. The Gator defense allowed 27.3 points per a game this past season. In 2016, the defense surrendered just 16.8 points per game.

Grantham’s History

Grantham served just one year as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, but he made quite an impact. In 2016, the Bulldogs were 110th in total defense(459.1 yards per game). This year, the Bulldogs rank tenth in the nation (302 yards per game). The improvement also correlated to better scoring defense. In 2016, Mississippi State finished 93rd(31.8 points per game). This season, the defense is 24th in the country(20.4 points per game).

Prior to his time at Mississippi State, Grantham served as a defensive coordinator at Louisville from 2014-16 and at Georgia from 2010-13. In the 1990’s, he served as a defensive coach at Virginia Tech and then Michigan State.

Grantham then made the leap to the NFL. He worked as a defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts(1999-2001), Houston Texans(2002-04) and the Dallas Cowboys(2008-09). He was also once the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns(2005-07).

#CHOMP #GATORS pic.twitter.com/Ai8sls8fOc

— Todd Grantham (@CoachTGrantham) November 30, 2017