Alex Donno discusses what new Miami Hurricanes defensive backs coach Chevis Jackson will bring to The U.
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00:00 Miami reportedly, I don't think the deal has been signed just yet, but everything is pointing to
00:06 Chavis Jackson. Welcome to the Chavis Jackson is going to become the new defensive backs coach
00:14 at Miami. He's going to be the guy that replaces Jamila die. Now Jackson, he has worked before
00:21 with and under Miami's defensive coordinator, Lance Guidry. Things worked out well. The last
00:28 time these guys were together 2022 at Marshall, that was the year that Marshall pulled off that
00:33 impressive upset against Notre Dame. And they had one of the top defenses in the country that year.
00:38 They finished ninth nationally in interceptions that year, which is important because that's
00:43 the unit he coaches and third in pass efficiency defense. They had the number one third down
00:49 defense in the country that season at Marshall and they finished fifth in yards per play.
00:54 Now I think that guys with this reported hire of Chavis Jackson, who is the associate defensive
01:00 coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Marshall thundering herd, he's reportedly headed to the U.
01:06 I think it's really important here that Lance Guidry clearly had influence in this hire,
01:10 because this is a coach that's going to be working closely with him and reporting to him.
01:14 I'm glad that Mario Cristobal gave, apparently gave Guidry some autonomy and figuring out
01:20 someone who he's comfortable working with. It's also our understanding that Evan Cooper,
01:25 who's at Nebraska, had a really good interview for this job and it may have come down to
01:30 Jackson versus Cooper. But if Cooper is the guy that Guidry and ultimately Cristobal felt most
01:36 comfortable hiring, I'm glad that they got their guy. And I'm sure that, and we're going to talk
01:42 more about Chavis Jackson's potential impact here, but you know that anytime you join a Mario
01:47 Cristobal staff during an off season, your first priority becomes recruiting, second priority,
01:53 recruiting, third priority, recruiting. So I'm sure Chavis Jackson is already working hard on
01:58 building relationships with important defensive back recruits like DJ Pickett, the five star
02:03 out of Zephyr Hills and Chris Ewald, the four star out of Chaminade Madonna. And it's funny how
02:10 we've seen the coaching staff, hopefully they're finding the right dynamics.
02:15 Now, obviously the 2023 staff worked out a lot better than the 2022 staff, which was kind of a
02:21 disaster. The only assistant coaches to this point who were on the day one Cristobal staff at Miami,
02:27 the only two guys left were Alex Mirabal, who obviously he pulls his weight even more so than
02:35 literal because he's a very light looking guy, but Alex Mirabal is a stud offensive line coach
02:41 and Big Joe Salavea on the defensive line. Those are the only two day one assistant coaches that
02:46 remain on Mario Cristobal staff. Obviously we loved what Lance Guidry did last season.
02:51 The jury's still a little bit out on Shannon Dawson, but Dawson was a big upgrade statistically
02:57 over Josh Gattis the year prior. And hopefully these moves that Miami is making from Matt Merritt,
03:03 the running backs coach to now Chavis Jackson, that these hires end up working out. And even
03:09 if your staff is not as high profile and as I'll use the word again, Hollywood, as it used to be,
03:14 it's about that chemistry and it's about that hard work.