Matt Zenitz reported on Tuesday morning that the Hurricanes are bringing in Houston’s Zac Etheridge for a defensive back role. The specifics of that role is still to be determined.
Ethridge spent just one season with the Cougars and helped Houston finish third in the Big 12 in pass defense. The unit finished No. 28 nationally in that category, allowing just 188.8 yards per game. Houston’s 2,266 passing yards allowed were its fewest in a non-COVID season (eight games played) in 30 years. Earlier this month, Houston promoted Etheridge to defensive pass game coordinator to go along with his defensive backs coach title.
Under Ethridge, cornerback Jeremiah Wilson emerged as one of the best in college football this past fall. Wilson finished as the sixth highest-graded cornerback in the country with an 86.7 grade. He finished with four interceptions, which was third-best in the Big 12.
An Auburn alum who played on the national championship team in 2010, Ethridge spent three seasons as the Tigers secondary coach where he worked with multiple all-conference players such as Jaylin Simpson and Roger McCreary.
During the 2023 season with Auburn, Ethridge helped the Tigers rank third in the conference in passing yards allowed (202.2) and interceptions (12) while holding opponents under 250 passing yards in 10 of its 13 games and under 200 yards seven times.
Etheridge began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Penn State under former head coach Bill O’Brien before becoming the cornerbacks coach at Western Carolina. Etheridge then spent a season at Louisiana before making his way to Houston for his first stint with the Cougars, where he worked with a pair of all-conference cornerbacks in Marcus Jones and Damarion Williams.
He then moved to his alma mater where he served for three seasons.
The Hurricanes moved on from the secondary staff, which featured defensive coordinator Lance Guidry, who worked with safeties, and Chevis Jackson who ran the cornerback room.
The Hurricanes are set to feature a revamped secondary in 2025 featuring multiple high-quality transfers in safety Zechariah Poyser, cornerback Xavier Lucas, cornerback Ethan O’Connor, cornerback Charles Brantley, and cornerback Emmanuel Karnley to go along with freshman All-American cornerback OJ Frederique, promising redshirt sophomore Damari Brown, who missed most of the 2024 season due to a lower extremity injury, and sophomore safety Zaquan Patterson.
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