Arizona Football has big shoes to fill with loss of OL coach Joe Gilbert

Already days after the news that offensive line coach Joe Gilbert will be returning to the NFL, Arizona Football will have a tall task in replacing him.

If you haven’t been made aware by now, the Arizona Football team is losing another coordinator. This time, former offensive line coach Joe Gilbert is moving on from the program.

After spending just one season in Tucson, Gilbert is heading back to the NFL to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although a bit disheartening, the news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Arizona Wildcats

Gilbert has a solid, coaching pedigree, having served as an assistant both at the collegiate and professional level. In 2012, he was hired by the Indianapolis Colts, where he was on the staff for six years, before ultimately rejoining Kevin Sumlin at Arizona this past season.

Despite the 5-7 season by the Wildcats in 2018, his impact was greatly felt on the sidelines in a big way. The 32-year veteran shared a wealth of knowledge, and did absolute wonders to an offensive line that was decimated by injuries and suspensions early on in the year.

Having to get the most out of what he had, Gilbert helped solidify an offensive group that opened some big time holes for Arizona’s backs.

His group performed so well, it even led to a first-team all-Conference selection for J.J. Taylor who ran for 1,434 yards and six touchdowns. Gary Brightwell even added with 525 yards and three touchdowns of his own.

The performance was so impressive, Arizona led the entire Pac-12 in rushing yards per game.

However, now the attention turns to Sumlin and Arizona and how they will fill a big hole left by Gilbert’s departure.

Jason Scheer of 247Sports, put out a ‘Hot Board’ list of candidates the Wildcats should look at to replace Gilbert this season.

On that list are names like; Angus McClure, Kyle Devan, Brad Davis and Adrian Klemm among many others. While we don’t have insight as to who the Wildcats are heavily considering or interviewing, these would be my top list of coaches if I’m Sumlin.

I feel Klemm should be Arizona’s top candidate as Gilbert’s replacement. Klemm was the former offensive line coach at UCLA from 2012-16, and would be more of high-risk/high-reward hire in my opinion.

As a player, he was a four-year starter at Hawaii from 1996-99 and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth-round following a terrific collegiate career.

Klemm played in New England from 2000-04, winning three Super Bowls, before finishing his playing career the following season in Green Bay in 2005, before ultimately turning to coaching in 2008.

For one, he has great experience as a player at the collegiate and professional level, and has been a notoriously good recruiter as well. Klemm still has some great, Southern California connections that could pay big dividends for the Wildcats, should they hire him.

However, there is a bit of a risk in hiring Klemm. While at UCLA, he ran into some trouble with a show cause that finally ended in September of this year. While with the Bruins, the NCAA penalized him for arranging training services and housing for two recruits worth $2,400 that he paid for outside of what the NCAA allows.

Is the “baggage” worth what Klemm could maybe do in Arizona? Who knows, but if Sumlin and Arizona can get over that, we can’t help but think of the many positives he could bring to Tucson.

Probably one of the less popular names on here, DeVan is young guy, steadily climbing the coaching ranks. A former player in the Pac-10/12 himself, DeVan followed-up his collegiate career by playing in the NFL for five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans. He even started at guard for the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.

Since then, he has made coaching appearances at Oregon State, USC, the New Orleans Saints and now Ball State, where he is currently the assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the Cardinals.

In his three seasons in Muncie, IN, DeVan and staff have certainly put up some impressive rushing numbers. In 2016, Ball State averaged 220 rushing yards per game, ranking 30th overall in the NCAA that year.

In 2017, they did take a small step back in averaging just 158 yards per game. They backed-up that respectable performance this past year, by averaging 155.7 yards per game this season.

Overall, DeVan has a good coaching pedigree with great experience as a player and coach, something that Arizona should covet in finding their next offensive line coach. Give him the opportunity and resource to recruit at an even higher level and I think he would be a solid hire by the Wildcats.

The former offensive and defensive line coach at UCLA from 2007-17, McClure finally made the transition back to Nevada again, after having previously served as a position coach on the Wolfpack staff back in 1996.

McClure is definitely well-known in coaching circles, having coached for over 20 years at the High School and collegiate levels, and was a former player at Sacramento State from 1987-91.

Since then, he has bounced around as a coach, making stops at Nevada, Sacramento State, Nebraska, Buffalo and UCLA along the way.

He is known as a good recruiter and coach, and even has coached numerous NFL players in his career thus far. He has great ties to the Southern California area, and his experience could give the Wildcats some advantages in that department moving forward.

McClure did a fine job coaching the Nevada offensive line this year, helping lead the team to a very respectable 8-5 record, and victory in the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl over Arkansas State this past December.

He would once again be a welcomed addition to the Pac-12 and more importantly the Arizona staff.

Not easy to pull coordinators/ coaches from the SEC, but if Arizona could do it, Davis would be a fantastic addition to the Wildcat staff.

A former player at Oklahoma, Davis has been coaching at the collegiate level since 2003. Since then, he has been climbing the coaching ranks, making some impressive stops along the way.

Davis finally made it to the SEC in 2017, where he coached the Florida Gators, but after one year in Gainesville, he has now made the transition to Missouri. This past year with the Tigers, he helped solidify a physical group that put together the 33rd ranked rushing attack in the NCAA.

* Coincidentally enough, the Tigers ranked right behind Arizona this year in overall rushing offense.

Brad would be a great hire purely for his coaching prowess and overall ability, but he also has some good recruiting ties, albeit it being more on the East Coast. Hiring Davis would be great for the Wildcats in gaining his experience and knowledge, and he could perhaps help Arizona’s recruiting presence in the talent-rich “SEC Territory”.

While he may be a bit of a long-shot for the mere fact that he’s already held five different positions in five years, he should be pursued by Arizona. Overall, I feel he would be a tremendous fit and addition to the current coaching staff.

Originally a Tucson native, this candidate would be more a prideful one for Arizona. Although Bernardi went to high school in Flagstaff, he was born in Tucson, an graduated high school in 2005. Following his high school career, Bernardi then went to Fresno State, where he played with the Bulldogs from 2006-10.

Since then, Bernardi has made coaching stops at Tennessee, Oregon, Fresno State and now San Jose State.

Originally hired as just the offensive line coach, he has since added the title of running game coordinator. Stat watchers beware though, as the Spartans have had an abysmal rushing attack the past few seasons.

Take the stats with a grain of salt though, as winning and succeeding at a place like San Jose State isn’t an easy thing to do.

The more important thing to note, is that Bernardi comes from a family of coaches, and has been steadily climbing the coaching ranks since initially joining the Tennessee coaching staff back in 2011.

The advantage in hiring him, is that he’s a young with a lot of promise, and could really begin to have his career take off. Tucson and Arizona would provide a great opportunity, and could be his chance to begin to establish himself at an even bigger program.

To me, he’s not the top choice, but I think he’s one Wildcat fines should be pretty excited and optimistic about, should he become Gilbert’s replacement.

At Zona Zealots, we are interested in seeing who the Wildcats pick and can’t wait to see how the work with what should be a solid group in 2019! Bear Down, Arizona!