Minnesota Football: Jahmile Addae named defensive backs coach

The Minnesota Golden Gophers announced that Jahmile Addae has been hired as defensive backs coach. Addae will replace Mo Linguist, who left earlier this month to coach defensive backs at Texas A&M under Jimbo Fisher.

The Lakeland High School Football Twitter account also mentioned that Addae visited this morning on behalf of the Gophers.

Addae has spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach under Rich Rodriguez for the Arizona Wildcats, serving as a football analyst for three years before being promoted to safeties coach. Rodriguez made Florida a point of emphasis in recruiting during his tenure at Arizona, and Tampa native Addae spearheaded those efforts the last two seasons.

As a player, Addae was a four-year starter, two-time captain, and three-time All-Big East defensive back for the West Virginia Mountaineers under Rodriguez. Undrafted out of college, he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006, but ended the season with the Indianapolis Colts. His professional playing career was cut short when he suffered “something similar to a heart attack” at practice, which led to Addae being diagnosed with a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The Gophers are also expected to announce soon that assistant coach Brian Callahan will transition to offensive line, replacing Ed Warinner. Clay Patterson would take over as tight ends coach. Patterson spent the last two seasons as head coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, and was described as “one of college football’s brightest young offensive minds” in a brief write-up from Sports Illustrated.