The Grove Report

Texas A&M Finalizing Deal With Ole Miss Defensive Coordinator Durkin

Ole Miss now begins its search for a new defensive coordinator

The Grove Report Staff

The Ole Miss Rebels are losing arguably their top assistant to an SEC West rival.

On Wednesday, Bruce Feldman reported that the Texas A&M Aggies were making a push to hire Ole Miss defensive coordinator DJ Durkin to the same position in College Station.

Following Feldman's report, Pete Thamel released that Durkin and A&M were finalizing a deal on Wednesday afternoon.

Durkin is heading to Texas A&M just one month after former defensive coordinator Mike Elko was lured away to the ACC to become the new head coach for the Duke Blue Devils.

Under Elko, the Aggies were one of the best defensive units in all of college football, ranking No. 3 in the country in scoring defense, where they gave up just 15.9 points per game, and No. 14 in total defense, surrendering just 327.5 yards per contest.

Durkin, who came to Oxford following a stint as the head coach at Maryland, was a godsend for the Rebels in 2021, helping to transform their defense from one of the worst defensive units in program history (117th in scoring defense), to a solid and respectable SEC unit, that gave up just 24.7 points per contest (51st in scoring defense).

With Durkin's new position comes significant turnover on the defensive side of the ball for the Aggies. Standouts such as Leon O'Neal, DeMarvin Leal, Michael Clemons, Jayden Peevy, Aaron Hansford and Tyree Johnson are all on their way out of College Station.

As for the Rebels, the search for a new defensive coordinator now begins as other coaches, such as running backs coach Kevin Smith and co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Chris Partridge also being pursued by other FBS programs.

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The Grove Report Staff
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