Jaguars Reportedly Hire Former Eagles, FIU Assistant Greg Austin as Assistant OL Coach
The Jacksonville Jaguars have seemingly added to their coaching staff in an attempt to turn a strength into an even better unit.
According to On3.com, the Jaguars have tabbed FIU offensive line coach/run game coordinator Greg Austin as an assistant offensive line coach.
A former Nebraska offensive lineman, Austin spent his first few years as a coach under Chip Kelly at Oregon as a graduate assistant. He then got his first NFL job with Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles as an assistant offensive line coach under Kelly from 2013-2015.
Austin coached UCF's offensive line from 2017-2017 before coaching the same position at Nebraska from 2018-2021.
Austin doesn't have any direct ties to Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson or offensive coordinator Press Taylor. Assistant quarterbacks coach Andrew Breiner was FIU's offensive coordinator in 2021, but that was a year before Austin was hired.
The Jaguars' offensive line was led in 2022 by offensive line coach/running game coordinator Phil Rauscher and assistant offensive line coach Todd Washington. Jacksonville finished No. 5 in fewest sacks allowed (28) and No. 4 in adjusted sack rate, while also blocking for a 1,000-yard rusher in Travis Etienne and a Pro Bowl passer in Trevor Lawrence.
"I think Coach Rauscher (Offensive Line Coach Phil ) has done an outstanding job working with those guys, and they’re only going to continue to get better," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said last week.
"The good thing is, most of those guys are young. Most of them are on their first contract. You’ve got a couple that are early stages of their second contract, and only Shat, really, is a guy that is up there in years, but you couldn’t tell by the way he performed this year for us. He stepped in and did an outstanding job.”