Who: Austin Armstrong, Florida
Title: Defensive coordinator
Previous stop: Southern Miss defensive coordinator/linebackers coach (2021-22)
Why he's important: Austin Armstrong says a lot of things in a short amount of time, which makes sense. He's gone a long way in a short amount of time.
After playing at Division III Huntingdon College from 2010-13, Armstrong did not break into coaching college football until the 2016 season, as a GA at West Georgia under head coach Will Hall. This was fortuitous timing.
When Hall landed the offensive coordinator job on Billy Napier's Louisiana staff following that season, Armstrong came along.
Mark Hudspeth would be let go as the Ragin Cajuns' head coach, and the resulting fallout look Hall to Memphis, but new UL head coach Billy Napier on as a GA working with his defense.
That led to a quality control job at Georgia in 2019, before Armstrong returned to Lafayette in 2020 as linebackers coach.
After one season as a full-time position coach, Armstrong became the defensive coordinator at Southern Miss, working under new Golden Eagles head coach Will Hall. Two successful seasons earned Armstrong a dream job, as inside linebackers coach at Alabama.
Armstrong lost his mother during the 2022 season, so being back in his home state working under his "hero" was a perfect position for him at that time. A month later, Florida co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney took a job with the Arizona Cardinals, and Toney recommended Armstrong to replace him. "I was at a comfortable place," Armstrong said this month. "(Toney) is a dear friend and he's a better person than football coach. I think he's one of the better football coaches I've ever seen. He got this thing, along with the staff, going in the right direction."
PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS: No. 15: Bryan Nardo, Oklahoma State; No. 14: Chad Bumphis, Mississippi State; No. 13: Buster Faulkner, Georgia Tech; No. 12 Chris Jackson, Texas; No. 11: Philip Montgomery, Auburn; No. 10: Josh Gattis: Maryland; No. 9: Lance Guidry, Miami
Florida finished 97th in yards per play and 87th in scoring, both down from 2021, en route to a 6-7 record in Napier's debut season, numbers that shouldn't necessarily be surprising given the change in systems -- but numbers that need to nonetheless improve, wildly if possible, to avoid the Napier era getting off on the dreaded wrong foot.
Armstrong adapted his verbiage to what Toney and the staff installed in 2022 -- the rest of Florida's defensive staff remained intact -- but it's safe to say the Gators are doing to do a lot defensively this fall.
"We don't have a tool box, we have a tool shed, a scheme," Armstrong said. "Our deal is we're doing to be a multiple 4-down front team, play a split-safety man match. We're going to pressure -- the word Creeper gets thrown around a lot, which is a 4-man pressure versus the pass and a 5-man pressure against the run. At the end of the day, not many people are like us that are multiple in the front end and multiple in the back end. They're kind of one or the other, right? We're both. We're going to take whatever tools we need in this league to play every week. You've got a scheme that is flexible to what you're seeing all the time. Really for us, it's the same every week but it's different for the opponent."
Hearing Armstrong speak, one gets the feeling he's figured out a way to adapt his defense that's simple for his players and indiscernible for his opponent, from week-to-week and down-to-down, in a way that his peers haven't... or Florida is going to do a lot of things and may not necessarily be good at any of them. (Southern Miss finished fourth nationally in sacks and third in tackles for loss in 2022.)
"We say we like to negotiate with a hammer," he said. "We like to dictate the terms of engagement. We're going to be able to run our stuff against all circumstances of offense."
One also gets the feeling that he was born to coach ball, and specifically defense. A collection of quotes:
"When that ball is within a 53 1/3, we're going to punish the ball carrier. Our goal every week is to change the way our opponent thinks. 'When that ball is in my hand, I've got to really consider those people in the orange helmets are coming.'
“We have to play with physicality and we’ve got to play with a relentless effort. Those are all controllable. That has nothing to do with scheme, it has nothing to do with talent. I know that sounds like a bunch of coach-speak, but every great defense, regardless of if it’s the ’85 Bears, it’s Georgia last year, it’s the Ravens, they ran and they hit."
“We’re going to mess up. But you erase that by playing your (butt) off and punishing the ball carrier.”
Armstrong will inspire that level of effort by coaching out of a point of view of love, not duty.
"Quit playing the game like it's a burden and play it like it's a blessing," he said. "There ain't a scoreboard out there right now. Go play. Go enjoy it."