SC native with NFL experience set to be next Gamecocks D-line coach
South Carolina’s football team will reach across the SEC for its next defensive line coach.
The Gamecocks and Will Muschamp will hire John Scott Jr., who spent the past two seasons at Arkansas, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Monday. The Greer native played at Western Carolina and also spent two seasons with the New York Jets.
The South Carolina board of trustees will have a teleconference at 8:30 on Tuesday morning. According to the school’s posting, the only item on the agenda is a “proposed contractual matter related to an Athletics employment agreement.”
The process mirrors that of the hiring of running backs coach Thomas Brown earlier in January.
GamecockCentral first reported the news early Monday morning.
Scott’s career took him to Texas Tech, Georgia Southern, Missouri State, Norfolk State and his alma mater, coaching either defensive line or outside linebackers and was a graduate assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette.
He has background in 3-4 defenses, although Arkansas was a four-down team last season.
After college, he played a few years of lower level pro football, including in the Arena Football League 2.
At GSU, he worked with Brent Russell, the program’s all-time sack leader and one of the top defenders on the FCS level. At Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury, Scott coached two-time all-conference lineman Kerry Hyder. With the Jets, he worked with the likes of Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams.
At Arkansas, Scott bridged the end of the Bret Bielema era and the start of the Chad Morris era, with a defense that struggled both seasons.
Last year, Scott earned $340,000 according to the USA Today assistant coach salary database. Outgoing line coach Lance Thompson earned $500,000.
USC has yet to announce Thompson’s departure.
There will be a question of how things are arranged at the end of his tenure. Thompson was listed as only working with defensive tackles, while Mike Peterson handled the outside players. Before the 2018 season, Peterson only worked with Sam linebackers and Bucks, and Thompson handled the whole line.
Scott will will inherit a stocked cupboard of blue chippers, which includes Zacch Pickens, Joseph Anderson, Josh Belk, Rick Sandidge, Javon Kinlaw and Kingsley Enagbare.
This story was originally published January 21, 2019 at 10:35 AM.