Florida is expected to hire Georgia Tech’s Buster Faulkner as its offensive coordinator, Swamp247 has learned.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the Gators were nearing a deal to bring Faulkner to Gainesville on newly hired head coach Jon Sumrall’s coaching staff.
Faulkner, a Broyles Award semifinalist, is currently in his third season with Georgia Tech, where the Yellow Jackets’ offense finished the 2025 regular season ranked No. 12 nationally in total offense. The Yellow Jackets averaged 466.2 yards per game this year en route to a 9-3 finish.
With the expectation the hire will be finalized in the near future, Faulkner brings experience in the Southeastern Conference to Gainesville, having spent three seasons at Georgia as an offensive quality control assistant for quarterbacks from 2020 through 2022, where the Bulldogs won a pair of national championships.
While at Georgia, Faulkner played a critical role in the construction of one of the nation’s top offenses, with the Bulldogs finishing ranked top-five nationally in scoring and total offense in Faulkner’s final season in Athens, the 2022 campaign.
Prior to his three years at Georgia, Faulkner spent a decade at Group of Five programs, serving as offensive coordinator at Southern Miss in 2019, offensive coordinator at Arkansas State from 2016 through 2018, at Middle Tennessee from 2011-2015 and at Murray State in 2010. He also served as the offensive coordinator at Valdosta State in 2008 before leaving the program to coach quarterbacks at Central Arkansas in 2009.
Faulkner’s championship-winning experience at UF’s rival fits the bill for what Sumrall looked for in an offensive coordinator, arguably the most significant hire of the 43-year-old Sumrall’s inaugural coaching staff considering his defensive-minded background and the Gators’ need for improvement offensively after finishing the 2025 season ranked No. 102 among 134 Division I teams in total offense.
“We’re going to attract a championship-level staff here at the University of Florida. We’re going to play with an edge, a blue-collar mindset, and a chip on our shoulder. We will be tough. We will have grit. We will not be outworked. We will play with passion and physicality. We will build our scheme in all three phases around our players and their strengths. On offense, when I think of Florida football, I think of aggressive, I think of explosive, I think about mixing tempos, using it to your advantage, and dictating the game to the opponent,” Sumrall said Monday. “I think about stretching the field and threatening every blade of grass.”
Sumrall has already finalized one hire in luring Brad White from Kentucky as the program’s defensive coordinator, a move which was announced earlier Thursday.
White spent the previous eight seasons on staff at Kentucky, highlighted by the last seven as defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach. During his time in Lexington, the Wildcats made six bowl appearances while ranking among the top-20 FBS teams in both scoring defense (22.1) and total defense (344.1) under his tutelage from 2018-2025. Across seven NFL Drafts while at Kentucky (2019-24), White developed 14 NFL Draft picks and six selections in the top-two rounds on the defensive side of the ball.
“Brad is one of the best defensive minds in football and I’m thrilled he will be joining us in Gainesville,” Sumrall said. “Brad has led one of the best defenses in the SEC the last seven years and has extensive experience in the NFL as well. His defenses possess the exact characteristics we are going to have here at Florida and I can’t think of a better leader for that unit.”