After Elijah Robinson took the defensive coordinator job at Syracuse, new Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko worked quickly to fill a key role on his staff.
Florida co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Sean Spencer will take the D-line job at Texas A&M, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Elko and Spencer have a history dating back nearly 20 years. When Elko landed the defensive coordinator job at Hofstra in 2006, Spencer came aboard as defensive line coach. Three years later, when Elko became the defensive coordinator at Bowling Green, he gave Spencer his first FBS job as the D-line coach.
Spencer would go on to spend 2011-19 working under James Franklin, first at Vanderbilt and then at Penn State. The Nittany Lions ranked in the top 15 nationally in sacks every year from 2015-19.
That success earned Spencer the defensive line job with the New York Giants, but he returned to the college game on Billy Napier's new Florida staff in 2022 (after, briefly, joining Elko's Duke staff). Spencer was on the market after he was let go as part of a staff shakeup following the Gators' 5-7 season.
The news of Spencer's hiring hit hours after it was reported Walter Nolen will hit the transfer portal. The No. 2 overall recruit in the class of 2022 led all Aggie D-linemen with 36 tackles to go with four sacks and 8.5 TFLs from his tackle spot as a true sophomore in 2023.
Whether or not Nolen returns, the Aggies signed seven other top-100 recruits along the defensive front in the 2022 and '23 classes, so Spencer should have more than enough to form a formidable front in 2024.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
Source: Texas A&M is hiring Sean Spencer as the new defensive line coach.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 4, 2023