InsideTheU has learned that Atlanta Falcons defensive assistant Jess Simpson is expected to be Miami's next defensive line coach.

Simpson is billed as one of the most successful coaches in Georgia prep football history. He was the head coach at Buford High for 12 seasons and won seven state titles. The Auburn graduate was set to be Georgia State's defensive line/assistant head coach in 2016 before he left for the NFL.

In 12 years as the Buford head coach, Simpson compiled a record of 164-12 – a .932 winning percentage.

Simpson began his coaching career as a student assistant at Auburn, working under Pat Dye and Terry Bowden. He then spent one year (1994) coaching at his alma mater, Marietta High School, under Dexter Wood before moving with Wood to Buford in 1995. Simpson served as defensive coordinator and strength coach on Wood’s staff from 1995-2004 and then took over as head coach in 2005.

Simpson has big shoes to fill as he replaces one of the most well respected defensive line coaches in all of football in Craig Kuligowski, who was hired away to be Alabama's defensive line coach.

At Miami, Simpson inherits a group with solid front-line talent, but it is a group that certainly has some question marks. The headliner of the defensive line group is rising junior Joe Jackson who has totaled 15 sacks and 23 tackles for loss in his first two seasons at UM. Miami also returns rising senior Demetrius Jackson and rising sophomore Jonathan Garvin at defensive end.

The position to watch in 2018 on the defensive line is at defensive tackle, where the Hurricanes hope rising senior Gerald Willis can fulfill his potential after taking a sabbatical from the 2017 season. Rising sophomore Jon Ford is expected to step up into more playing time in 2018 and incoming four-star freshman Nesta Silvera is expected to be a key contributor.

Miami is also expected to add Illinois graduate transfer defensive tackle Tito Odenigbo to the roster before the start of the season.

The Hurricanes currently have nine scholarship defensive linemen on the roster this spring.

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