Missing the 2025 Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs only after a last-play, overtime-loss at eventual No. 4 seed Tarleton State, Austin Peay head coach Jeff Faris is responded with a tour de force offseason for the Govs.
After securing the return of All-United Athletic Conference quarterback Chris Parson despite Power Conference offers, Faris now is adding a current Southeastern Conference offensive staffer whose surname is synonymous with SEC football and an ex-Duke captain to his Year 3 Austin Peay coaching staff, FootballScoop has learned.
Sources tell FootballScoop that Faris is hiring Gavin Spurrier, grandson of Steve Spurrier, away from Texas A&M to become the Govs' quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
The younger Spurrier, whose grandfather, Steve, won a Heisman Trophy as a star Florida Gators quarterback and then led his alma mater to a national championship en route to a College Football Hall of Fame career, had been on Mike Elko's Texas A&M staff for the past two seasons, most recently serving as the Aggies' assistant tight ends coach. His father, Steve Spurrier Sr., was on the Florida Gators' 2025 coaching staff.
In addition to adding Gavin Spurrier, Faris also is tabbing Johnathan Lloyd as Austin Peay's wide receivers coach. He replaces Shane "Shug" Tucker, who is expected to accept a top assistant coaching position with a Nashville-area private high school this week, sources told FootballScoop.
The additions of Lloyd and Spurrier yet even more Duke ties to the Austin Peay program. Faris, a former Duke player whose mentors include David Cutcliffe and former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, has Quinn Billerman, another former Duke staffer, running the Govs offense.
Lloyd played both football and baseball for the Duke Blue Devils and most recently had been an offensive assistant in Gerad Parker's Troy Trojans program. Parker, it's worth noting, also is a former Duke assistant coach.
A former signee of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, Lloyd appeared in 49 career games for the Duke football team and added nearly 25 more appearances for the Blue Devils baseball team across two seasons. He caught 124 career passes in college for more than 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns.
Faris in 2025, his second-ever as a head coach, engineered one of the more impressive turnarounds in college football. He guided the Govs to an 7-5 mark that included the program's first win against a Football Bowls Subdivision program -- MTSU in the season-opening contest -- since 1987, as well as several weeks ranked in the AFCA Top 25.
The Govs have since added more than 40 new players to the program for 2026, including several high school signees as well as multiple signees who spent last season at the FBS level.
Austin Peay is scheduled to open Year 3 under Faris Sept. 5, 2026, at Clark Lea's Vanderbilt Commodores program, which Tuesday posted a final No. 12 ranking the AP Top 25 -- Vanderbilt's best-ever year-end finish in more than 75 years.