Florida Gators Assistant Coach Profiles: Who is Jabbar Juluke?

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier is building an army, but that lies not only within his robust support staff, but with his assistant coaches as well.

Photo: Jabbar Juluke; Credit: University of Florida athletic association

When Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier was introduced as the team's next head coach, he promised the Gator Nation an "army" when describing his incoming coaching staff.

The staff would consist of assistants who have gotten recognition around the college football world as some of the best in the game.

"We're going to hire an army of people here," Napier said on Dec. 5 last year. "We're going to create an infrastructure not only in the personnel department but also from an on-campus recruiting, creative media, name, image and likeness. We're going to create -- we've got a great vision for the organization that we're going to create here."

Napier, of course, was referring not only to the assistant coaches that he would eventually lock-in but also to the enormous support staff - comprised of 48 individuals that were eventually brought on to help build out the staff.

With that said, over the next couple of weeks, we at AllGators will be releasing profiles to get to know each assistant coach, including their background, recruiting history, quotes and more.

Next, we will take a look at running backs coach Jabbar Juluke, who coached with Napier and his staff since 2018.

Background info:

Juluke, 50, was originally hired by Napier as the program's associate head coach - offense/running backs coach on Dec. 5, joining the team's HC just after he was named as one of the first coaches to join him in Gainesville.

Prior to his hire, as mentioned previously, Juluke spent the past four years at Louisiana as the program's assistant head coach/RB coach from 2018-21 with Napier.

He began his coaching career at the prep level with Frederick Douglas High School as the team's defensive coordinator in New Orleans (La.) from 1996-98. He would move on to Brother Martin HS as the team's wide receivers coach (1999) before spending time at St. Augustine High School as the team's linebackers coach (2000-01).

Juluke would spend a total of 16 years at the prep level, including those listed above he also coached at O.P. Walker HS (DB coach/special teams coordinator, 2002), Edna Karr HS (head coach, 2003-04), McKinley HS (assistant coach, 2005) and Edna Karr (head coach, 2006-12).

Finally, Juluke would earn an opportunity to coach at the collegiate level, starting at Louisiana Tech, coaching the team's running backs from 2013-15. He would quickly jump to the Power Five level, coaching at LSU in 2015 before becoming an associate HC/RB coach in 2017 at Texas Tech.

Though his collegiate coaching experience is lacking a bit, Juluke has been thought of as one of the better developers of talent at the position for a while now.

Recruiting history

As stated previously, Juluke's background at the collegiate level leaves a bit to be desired, but he did land a couple of top-tier recruits during his time at LSU, including safety Grant Delpit and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Both players are now in the NFL.

He also had a hand in recruiting other players who made it to the NFL, including RB Saahdiq Charles (Washington, Louisiana, 2020) and WR Carlos Henderson (Denver, LSU, 2017).

Juluke wasted no time when he got to campus in Gainesville, utilizing his Louisiana connections to land Jennings HS RB Trevor Etienne, who is now enrolled at UF and will be joining the team in the fall when camp opens.

In addition to recruiting a couple of top-tier players, Juluke played a role in sending several RBs to the NFL, including RBs Elijah Mitchell, Raymond Calais, Trey Ragas, Leonard Fournette, Boston Scott, Derrius Guice and Kenneth Dixon from his coaching at the collegiate level. 

Quotable:

"We’re fortunate in that I think we have one of the best running back coaches in the entire country in Jabbar Juluke. His room has consistently produced and I see this room getting better. So I’m hopeful that that room can play winning football; we’re a long way from it. But in general I see him getting better.” - Napier on Juluke

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