COLLEGE

JSU fills 3 vacancies on coaching staff

Teddy Couch Times Staff Writer
Coach John Grass, seen second from right at Tuesday's pro day event, and Jacksonville State have added three new coaches for the 2018 season. [Marc Golden/The Gadsden Times]

JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville State has filled three coaching vacancies on the football staff.

Andrew Warwick, Kelvin Sigler and Landius Wilkerson officially have been hired in what JSU coach John Grass said has been the most change on the staff since he’s been with the Gamecocks.

Warwick will be the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Sigler will have the safeties and will be the associate head coach. Wilkerson is taking over the defensive ends.

“I think we got some good people in,” Grass said Tuesday after practice and during JSU’s NFL Pro Day. “I’m very confident in what those guys bring to the table and what they do. They fit in really well and bring something different to the table.”

The changes came after former co-defensive coordinators David Blackwell (East Carolina) and Brandon Hall (Troy) and linebackers coach Nick Gentry (UAB) left.

Grass also noted additional responsibilities of two returning defensive assistants. Defensive line coach William Green will coordinate the team’s run defense while cornerbacks coach Owen Kilgore will oversee the pass defense and special teams.

Warwick spent the last six seasons at Clemson in different capacities. He was a defensive analyst for the Tigers last year during their national title runner-up run. The Knox College (Illinois) graduate also spent time at Thomas More College, Central Oklahoma and Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College as an assistant.

Sigler, who played football at Alabama from 1995-98, comes from South Alabama, where he was the cornerbacks coach for the past two seasons. He was the at Northern Illinois for three years before his stint with the Jaguars. He was part of Alabama’s staff in 2012 when the Tide won the national championship against Notre Dame. He was the coach at Blount High School and served as an assistant at Bob Jones and Greensboro high schools before heading to the college ranks.

Wilkerson, an Alabama State graduate, comes to JSU from Huntingdon College, where he spent eight seasons. He most recently was the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator for the Hawks.