FootballScoop is proud to announce that Zarnell Fitch (Texas Tech) is the 2025 FootballScoop Defensive Line Coach of the Year presented by Teamworks as selected by prior winners.
Texas Tech's defensive front has dominated every team it's faced to date in the 2025 season.
The Red Raiders' front controlled every game en route to their first Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff maiden voyage. Entering the tournament, Tech not only leads the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 68.46 yards per game, it boasts the lowest figure by any FBS team in the past four seasons. Tech also leads the nation at 2.3 yards per carry allowed.
All but three of their 13 opponents to date have failed to crack 100 yards on the ground, but of course it goes deeper than that. Five foes were held below or barely above 50 yards, and eight finished near or below two yards per carry. Oregon State was reached eight yards on 22 carries; Kansas scratched out 47 yards on 38 attempts; UCF needed 29 attempts to get to 52 yards; West Virginia mustered 37 yards on 22 tries; and BYU totaled 130 yards across 57 carries over two games. Even in Texas Tech's only loss to date, Arizona State managed just 75 yards on 36 carries. In all, six rushes in 387 cumulative attempts have found the end zone, and five have gone for 20 yards or longer.
Of course, in college football your rushing defense numbers are about more than just your rushing defense. Texas Tech has sacked opposing quarterbacks 39 times to date, two off the national lead. Seven of their 13 games have seen at least three sacks, including a school-record nine for 92 yards against Kansas. Tech is also fourth nationally at 96 tackles for loss.
In a sign of the times, transfers AJ Holmes, Jr. (Houston) and Lee Hunter (UCF) spearheaded the unit.
Holmes has 35 tackles to date, with Hunter close behind at 34 and sophomore Jayden Cofield in third at 24. Seniors Skyler Gill-Howard and E'Maurion Banks also contributed 13 and 11 tackles, respectively. Holmes also leads the unit with nine tackles for loss, again followed closely by Hunter's 8.5. Cofield, Banks and Gill-Howard have 3.5, 3.0 and 2.5, respectively. Holmes also leads the unit with 4.5 sacks, with Banks at three and Hunter at 2.5.
That brick wall of a front spearheaded Tech to an incredible season defensively. A program that annually ranks 90th or lower in passing efficiency sits at seventh currently, surrendering 185.9 yards per game on 57.7 percent completions with 11 touchdowns against 16 interceptions. As a unit, Texas Tech is fifth in total defense (254.4 yards per game), third in yards per play (3.96), third in scoring defense (10.9 points per game), first in takeaways (31) and 12th on third down (30.7 percent).
Hunter was a First Team All-Big 12 honoree, while Holmes was a Third Team All-Big 12 selection.
A TCU graduate, Fitch played five seasons of professional football before entering coaching as an assistant at Dallas Lincoln High School in 2011. He was promoted to head coach in 2013 and joined the college ranks as his alma mater's director of high school relations the following year. Fitch joined the coaching staff in 2016 and was a finalist for this award in 2017. He has been Texas Tech's defensive line coach since 2022.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by Teamworks are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Kenny Baker and LaAllan Clark [Texas], Todd Bates and Miguel Chavis [Oklahoma], Sean Spencer, Tony Jerod-Edie and Stan Watson [Texas A&M], Al Washington [Notre Dame], and Fitch) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Defensive Line Coach of the Year award are Dick Bumpas (TCU, 2008), Jim Panagos (Central Florida, 2009), Bill Kirelawich (West Virginia, 2010), Brick Haley (LSU, 2011), Randy Hart (Stanford, 2012), Ron Burton (Michigan State, 2013), Craig Kuligowski (Missouri, 2014), Greg Mattison (Michigan, 2016), Larry Johnson (Ohio State, 2017), Ron Burton and Chuck Bullough (Michigan State, 2018), David Turner (Florida, 2019), Charlie Partridge (Pittsburgh, 2020, 2022), Shaun Nua (Michigan, 2021), Bo Davis (Alabama, 2015; Texas, 2023), and Rodney Garner (Tennessee, 2024).
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