It appears that Clemson will be losing both of their defensive line coaches this offseason. Several reports, including one from Sporting News columnist Alex Marvez indicate that the Jacksonville Jaguars will hire Clemson DE Coach Marion Hobby to likely be their defensive line coach. Although no move has been announced, hopefully this is not final and Coach Swinney and Hobby can work out an agreement that keeps him at Clemson for the foreseeable future.

Coach Hobby has been at Clemson since the 2011 season, his second stint with the team. Before Clemson Hobby was at Duke as the DL coach from 2008-2010. Before that he spent the the 2006 and 2007 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. There he worked with newly hired Jaguars coach Doug Marrone. Coach Hobby also had a one year stint with Clemson in 2005 and was at Ole Miss for 5 years before that.

The potential departure of both coaches on the defensive line is a cause for concern. While Dan Brooks’ retirement is not a huge surprise, the potential departure of Hobby is. With both coaches gone Coach Swinney is likely going to have to make an external hire to at least fill a defensive line coach position. Clemson was one of the rare schools with both a DT and DE coach and it seems unlikely that this practice would continue unless Dabo is able to find two highly qualified coaches.

The good news is that Clemson returns a lot of talent at both the DT and DE positions. With several incoming recruits also expected on campus any new coach will have plenty of talent to work with.