After news broke that Florida would be losing its defensive coordinator, Patrick Toney, to the NFL, word came in that he wouldn’t be the only Gators coach poached by the Arizona Cardinals.

On3’s Matt Zenitz is reporting that Florida tight ends coach William Peagler is also making the move from Billy Napier’s staff to work under Jonathan Gannon in the pros. Peagler spent just one year with the program after spending time at Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana and Michigan State.

Peagler worked his way up the coaching ladder quickly and found himself as one of the premiere assistants in the game while at Michigan State. He helped developed second-round pick Kenneth Walker III while with the Spartans, but Peageler faced a much more challenging task at Florida.

When he got to UF, the Gators had just lost Kemore Gamble to the transfer portal and had just one active scholarship tight end on the roster, Keon Zipperer. A couple of injuries forced defensive players to switch positions, including Dante Zanders who ended up getting some playing time for Florida at tight end.

The position group never truly shined throughout 2022, but Zipperer, Zanders and Jonathan Odom are all returning in 2023. Redshirt freshmen Arlis Boardingham, Hayden Hansen and Andrew Savaiinaea will also be in the position room under the new coach.

Florida has until March 4 to hire a tight ends coach before the start of spring camp.

More Football!

Florida expected to bring in new DC from Alabama

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Story originally appeared on Gators Wire