Blake Gideon (born July 25, 1989) is an

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

coach and former player. He is currently Special teams coordinator coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. As a player, Gideon started all 52 games at

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

during his college football career at

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, which ranks second in school history. Afterwards, he played professionally for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

and the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

High school

Gideon was a two-time all-state selection at

Leander High School Leander High School is a secondary school in Leander, Texas, United States, and is part of the Leander Independent School District. It was established in 1983 and was the only high school in district, until the establishment of Cedar Park High Sc ...

in football. On the gridiron, Gideon recorded 300 tackles, 10 INTs, six forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries and 14 TDs in his three years as a starter. He also lettered in baseball and track and field.

College career

Gideon started all 52 games as safety during his college career. His 52 consecutive starts rank second all-time at Texas. He was named to the 2011

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom ...

watch list and was a four-time honorable mention All-Big 12 selection. Gideon posted 276 tackles (166 solo), 10 INTs, 20 PBU, two sacks, eight TFL, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a blocked punt during his college career. He was said to have been a "coach on the field."

Professional career

Gideon went

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

and was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

on April 30, 2012. He completed training camp with the Cardinals but was waived on August 21. On October 9 he was signed by the Broncos to their

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was placed on the reserve/retired list on May 21, 2013, but the Broncos still hold his rights if he desires to return.

Coaching career

On August 24, 2014, Gideon joined the Florida Gators as a defensive quality control coach. Gideon had played the first three seasons of his college career for the Longhorns under Gators head coach

Will Muschamp William Lawrence Muschamp (born August 3, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is the co- defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Georgia. He served as head football coach at the University of Florida fr ...

, who was the defensive coordinator at UT at the time. In 2015, Gideon joined the Auburn Tigers as a graduate assistant. He was given the defensive backs coach duties at Auburn during preparation for the 2015 Birmingham Bowl vs. Memphis after Travaris Robinson joined Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina. Gideon would follow Robinson and Muschamp to South Carolina in January 2016 as a linebackers and special teams graduate assistant coach before accepting a full-time position at Western Carolina, where he was the defensive backs coach for 2 seasons. In Spring 2018 he joined the Georgia State Staff as Corners Coach. In January 2019, Gideon was hired by newly named head coach

Dana Holgorsen Dana Carl Holgorsen (born June 21, 1971) is the head football coach at the University of Houston. He was the head coach at West Virginia University from 2011 to 2018. During his coaching career he has served under coaches such as Hal Mumme, Mike ...

to coach safeties and be special teams coordinator at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. Gideon was hired by

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

to join him at Ole Miss starting with the 2020 season. After one season in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Gideon returned to his alma mater to be the safeties coach on

Steve Sarkisian Stephen Sarkisian (born March 8, 1974)Stephens, Ken. – "QB GENEALOGY – Steve Sarkisian is latest in long line of talented BYU quarterbacks". – FUN FACT, Sarkisian’s father is actually Texas Tech Head Coach, Joey McGuire. ''Dallas Mo ...

’s inaugural

Texas Longhorns football The Texas Longhorns football program is the intercollegiate team representing the University of Texas at Austin (variously Texas or UT) in the sport of American football. The Texas Longhorns, Longhorns compete in the NCAA Division I Football ...

staff.

References

http://www.texassports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3528
br> http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/auburnauthority/2016/01/22/auburn-ga-blake-gideon-follows-muschamp-south-carolina/79184112/
https://web.archive.org/web/20160715032120/http://www.catamountsports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/040816aaa.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Gideon, Blake 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Texas American football safeties Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns football players Arizona Cardinals players Denver Broncos players People from De Leon, Texas Western Carolina Catamounts football coaches Georgia State Panthers football coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches