Source: Gators Add 15-Year NFL Kicker to Coaching Staff

The Gators have made another coaching hire, this time adding a 15-year NFL veteran kicker.

Note: The word "incoming" has been added to this story in the fifth paragraph, for clarity regarding the Kerwin Bell situation.

The Florida Gators have added former NFL kicker Shayne Graham to their coaching staff, multiple sources have informed AllGators.

Graham, 42, will join the Florida staff as a special teams quality control coach. He has already begun to meet and communicate with the team, according to sources.

After previously serving on Michigan State's staff as a special teams analyst from 2018-19, Graham was not retained by new head coach Mel Tucker this past month. Before his time in East Lansing, Graham also served as the special teams coordinator for Central Michigan University in 2017.

The 15-year NFL veteran played for 15 teams from 2000 to 2015, with his longest stop being in Cincinnati from 2003-09. Graham connected on 85.5% of his 324 field goal attempts during his NFL career.

Graham joins Tim Brewster and former Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell as incoming additions to Florida's coaching staff, entering its third season under head coach Dan Mullen. While active in adding members to the staff, Florida has only lost one key staffer in tight ends coach Larry Scott to Howard University, where he was named head coach earlier this month.

Though, the Gators are already beginning to see positive returns from Scott's replacement, in Brewster. Since his hiring, Brewster has become involved in the recruitment of top 2020 running back Zachary Evans, who will officially visit Florida on March 20th.

Bell will be added to the staff as an offensive analyst, a source previously told AllGators.

Graham will immediately get to work with special teams coordinator Greg Knox on replacing punter Tommy Townsend, who has graduated and will participate in the upcoming NFL Combine this week. Rising redshirt senior Jacob Finn and incoming freshman Jeremy Crawshaw, who is from Australia and has enrolled early, will compete for the gig.