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Just a few days after accepting the Detroit Lions head coaching job, Matt Patricia has made his first hire since the press conference. Patricia has hired Bo Davis as the Lions’ next defensive line coach. Davis will replace highly-regarded Kris Kocurek, who has taken a position with the Dolphins’ coaching staff.
Davis is a long-tenured football coach, who is probably most recognized as the defensive line coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2007-10 and again in 2014-15. He was there coaching up A’Shawn Robinson for a couple years, and Robinson is a huge fan of Davis:
If A’Shawn Robinson didn’t already believe in Davis’ coaching prowess, he sees it when Alabama plays other teams. Robinson says Davis is superb at helping them find points of attack during games. It starts with Davis’ mastery of teaching his players the hip strike.
”A lot of teams in college football don’t do that,” Robinson said. “They don’t guard their hips; they don’t strike players and control blocks. They might be having success, but when it comes to playing a really aggressive team, they can’t get off the blocks. With Coach Davis, he’s really helped us with that and being able to get off blocks faster.
”Having Coach Davis has been a blessing for us.”
Davis has also spent some time in the NFL. He was an assistant defensive line coach for the Dolphins back in 2006 and a defensive intern for the Jaguars in 2016.
His most recent gig was the defensive line coach for the University of Texas San Antonio. There he coached defensive end prospect Marcus Davenport, who has been one of the players many believe could be a target for the Lions come April’s draft.
Interestingly enough, there doesn’t appear to be any direct connection with Matt Patricia here. Unlike every other new hire he has made, Patricia has not worked directly with Davis in his career.