A new name to add to the defensive coordinator board; Jay Valai. He is the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Valai is also responsible for coaching the defensive backs. He is making 750k with the Oklahoma Sooners. Coach Fuller Salary was going to be close to 1.8 million if he had continued to coach at FSU. Valai is a coach who has also quickly moved up the ranks. Oklahoma had Valai and Todd Bates run the defense with head coach Brent Venables also involved in the defense. The Sooners defense this year is 23rd (Scoring Defense), 15th (Rushing Defense), 16th (Total Defense). They are 13th in (Yards Per Play). Oklahoma has 33 sacks this year. Does he bring his best pass rusher with him to FSU? (Mason Thomas-8 Sacks) Who played high school football at Cardinal Gibbons high school in Fort Lauderdale.
Why Valai: Check them boxes....He played college football under Bret Bielema at Wisconsin. He has coached at Georgia (Kirby Smart-2016-2017), with the KC Chiefs (2018), Rutgers DB Coach (Greg Schiano), Texas -(2020-Under Chris Ash), Alabama (2021-Nick Saban) and now Oklahoma (Brent Venables). He has coached under the whose -who of defensive coaches. He has been prepared to the guy. He is young. He is going to be a future head coach if he continues to rise at the same rate. He has coached in the SEC (Alabama, Georgia, OU), Big 12 (Texas). He has coached in the NFL.
Can he recruit: (Peyton Bowen -5-Star DB-Texas, Makari Vickers-Robert Munroe School-Tallahassee, Earl Little-American Heritage-(Alabama), Jam Miller -Alabama Leading Rusher - (557- yards-7 Touchdowns-5.21 AVG). He has shown the ability to recruit Texas (Peyton Bowen), Florida (Vickers), state of Washington. He has landed 1 (5), 18 (4) star recruit. He is a big game hunter. He can relate to the athletes which comes out of high school these days.
Why Not? This comes down to the Tino Sunseri conversation. Would you be willing to give a coach who has not been THE GUY the DC job at FSU. Valai has learned from the best but is this the time to take a chance on a coach who would be the DC. He would be given the keys to the car. He checks a ton of boxes. There are bigger names but what are the odds those guys show up at FSU.
Final Thoughts: I have known Valai since he played at Wisconsin. He is very impressive as a coach. I have seen him work and this guy goes all in. He loves to recruit the state of Florida. He does not shy away from going after the very best players. Oklahoma is not a school that has more NIL than FSU. Let Valai go and recruit Florida with an FSU logo on that shirt and he will excel. He is someone that is going to get the shot real soon to run his own defense.
Why Valai: Check them boxes....He played college football under Bret Bielema at Wisconsin. He has coached at Georgia (Kirby Smart-2016-2017), with the KC Chiefs (2018), Rutgers DB Coach (Greg Schiano), Texas -(2020-Under Chris Ash), Alabama (2021-Nick Saban) and now Oklahoma (Brent Venables). He has coached under the whose -who of defensive coaches. He has been prepared to the guy. He is young. He is going to be a future head coach if he continues to rise at the same rate. He has coached in the SEC (Alabama, Georgia, OU), Big 12 (Texas). He has coached in the NFL.
Can he recruit: (Peyton Bowen -5-Star DB-Texas, Makari Vickers-Robert Munroe School-Tallahassee, Earl Little-American Heritage-(Alabama), Jam Miller -Alabama Leading Rusher - (557- yards-7 Touchdowns-5.21 AVG). He has shown the ability to recruit Texas (Peyton Bowen), Florida (Vickers), state of Washington. He has landed 1 (5), 18 (4) star recruit. He is a big game hunter. He can relate to the athletes which comes out of high school these days.
Why Not? This comes down to the Tino Sunseri conversation. Would you be willing to give a coach who has not been THE GUY the DC job at FSU. Valai has learned from the best but is this the time to take a chance on a coach who would be the DC. He would be given the keys to the car. He checks a ton of boxes. There are bigger names but what are the odds those guys show up at FSU.
Final Thoughts: I have known Valai since he played at Wisconsin. He is very impressive as a coach. I have seen him work and this guy goes all in. He loves to recruit the state of Florida. He does not shy away from going after the very best players. Oklahoma is not a school that has more NIL than FSU. Let Valai go and recruit Florida with an FSU logo on that shirt and he will excel. He is someone that is going to get the shot real soon to run his own defense.
