Raymond coming to UF as cornerbacks coach

Corey Raymond has joined Billy Napier’s staff as cornerbacks coach/assistant head coach of the defense, UF announced on Thursday.

Raymond spent the last 10 years at LSU. He coached the entire secondary from 2012-17 and was also the associate head coach. After the NCAA allowed teams to add a 10th assistant coach, he focused on just the cornerbacks from 2017-21. He added recruiting coordinator responsibilities in 2020.

Prior to his long stint at LSU, he spent two years coaching the cornerbacks at Utah State and one year coaching the entire secondary at Nebraska.

Raymond, 52, played for LSU from 1987-91 and enjoyed a six-year NFL career. He coached high school football from 2003-05 before joining his alma mater as an intern in 2006. He joined the full-time staff as an assistant in the strength and conditioning program in 2007 and then received his first opportunity to coach defensive backs at Utah State in 2009.

He is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country, and he worked with seven first-team All-Americans at LSU: Eric Reid (2012), Jalen Mills (2015), Jamal Adams (2016), Tre’Davious White (2016), Greedy Williams (2018), Grant Delpit (2018 and 2019) and Derek Stingley Jr. (2019 and 2020). Additionally, Delpit won the Jim Thorpe Award in 2019.

Some of the other notable defensive backs he’s coached include Kristian Fulton, Donte Jackson, Jalen Collins and Tyrann Mathieu.

Raymond coached 14 players who were selected in the NFL Draft at LSU, and Stingley will join them in the 2022 draft. Of those 14, 10 have started games in the NFL and four of them have appeared in a Pro Bowl.

Raymond will serve as one of Napier’s lead recruiters, and he’ll team with safeties coach/co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney in hopes of returning Florida’s secondary to among the nation’s best.

Ethan Hughes
Ethan was born in Gainesville and has lived in the Starke, Florida, area his entire life. He played basketball for five years and knew he wanted to be a sportswriter when he was in middle school. He’s attended countless Gators athletic events since his early childhood, with baseball being his favorite sport to attend. He’s a proud 2019 graduate of the University of Florida and a 2017 graduate of Santa Fe College. He interned with the University Athletic Association’s communications department for 1 ½ years as a student and also wrote for InsideTheGators.com for two years before joining Gator Country in 2021. He is a long-suffering fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter @ethanhughes97.