John Scott Jr. (born December 15, 1975) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive line coach for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

in 2023. Scott played professionally for the

Greensboro Prowlers The Greensboro Prowlers were a professional arena football team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Prowlers competed in the AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental ...

of the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

and the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...

before entering the collegiate coaching ranks.

Playing career

High school

Scott played for

Greer High School Greer High School is a public high school in Greer, South Carolina, United States. With about 1,200 students, Greer High School is a moderately sized school in Greenville County, South Carolina. Curriculum Greer High School offers the Internatio ...

Greer, South Carolina Greer is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, Greenville and Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 35,308, making ...

. He graduated in 1995 after playing on the 1994 state championship team.

College

Scott lettered at Western Carolina at the

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

position for four years from 1995 to 1998. In 1997, Scott led all defensive linemen in tackles, and was a second team All-

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

selection. Scott graduated with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in communications in 2000.

Professional

Following his graduation from Western Carolina, Scott played three years of professional football. From 2000 to 2001, Scott played for the

of the

Af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

league and was named the team's defensive player of the year in 2000. In 2003, Scott participated in preseason camp for the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

Coaching career

Scott entered the coaching ranks in 2001 as a defensive line coach at West Davidson High School in

Tyro, North Carolina Tyro is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located west of Lexington and south of Winston-Salem in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the community had a population of 8,926. Ge ...

. Following that, Scott accepted a graduate assistant position at

Louisiana–Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana Sys ...

while earning a master's degree from 2002 to 2004. Subsequently, Scott spent one year as the defensive line coach for Norfolk State before returning to his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

Western Carolina to coach

s and outside

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

s. He spent three seasons at Western Carolina before spending the 2009 season as the defensive ends coach for Missouri State. After his stint at Missouri State, Scott accepted a position as the special teams and defensive line coach for

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, with additional campuses in Savannah ( Armstrong Campus) and Hine ...

for three seasons. During his time with the Eagles, Scott mentored Brent Russell, who was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n all three seasons under him and finished as the program's all-time sack leader. Scott also influenced All-American Roderick Tinsley an All-Southern Conference selection John Douglas during his three seasons in Statesboro. In January 2013, Scott was hired as the defensive line coach for

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

under head coach

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American professional American football, football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played c ...

. During his two seasons with the Red Raiders, Scott mentored All-Big 12,

Kerry Hyder Kerry Hyder Jr. (born May 2, 1991) is an American professional football defensive end. He played college football for Texas Tech. Early life Hyder played linebacker and defensive end for Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Austin, Texas. Hyder was ...

and

Branden Jackson Branden Jackson (born November 11, 1992) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football at Texas Tech. College career Jackson played four years at Texas Tech, appearing in 51 games with 38 starts, totalling 138 tackle ...

New York Jets

Scott was hired by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

, under head coach

Todd Bowles Todd Robert Bowles (born November 18, 1963) is an American professional American football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head coach ...

, as a defensive quality control coach on February 11, 2015. He was promoted to assistant defensive line coach on February 9, 2016.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Scott was hired by the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

and head coach

Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a position he has held since the 2021 season. Bielema served as the head football coach at ...

as the new defensive line coach on February 7, 2017, replacing Rory Segrest. He remained on staff in 2018.

South Carolina Gamecocks

On January 22, 2019, it was announced by head coach

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player who is a defensive analyst at the University of Georgia. He previously served as the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2022 ...

that Scott was hired as the new defensive line coach at the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

. Under Scott Jr.'s guidance,

Javon Kinlaw Javon Kinlaw (born 3 October 1997) is a Trinidadian American professional football defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Jones County Bobcats and South Carolina ...

was named first-team

All-SEC The All-SEC football team is an annual Southeastern Conference (SEC) honor bestowed on the best players in the conference following every college football season. Seasons Following is a list of all-conference teams in the history of the SEC: * ...

by the coaches.

Penn State Nittany Lions

On February 8, 2020, Scott was announced as the defensive line coach for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

and head coach James Franklin.

Detroit Lions

The

hired Scott as their defensive line coach on February 27, 2023.

References

External links

Texas Tech ProfileSouth Carolina Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John Jr. 1975 births Players of American football from Omaha, Nebraska African-American coaches of American football American football defensive ends Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches New York Jets coaches Living people Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football coaches Norfolk State Spartans football coaches Western Carolina Catamounts football players Western Carolina Catamounts football coaches Georgia Southern Eagles football coaches Missouri State Bears football coaches Montreal Alouettes players Greensboro Prowlers players Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Detroit Lions coaches 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen