John Scott Jr. (born December 15, 1975) 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 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) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. 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 ru ...

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 folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

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 1200 students, Greer High is a moderate sized school in Greenville County, South Carolina. Curriculum Greer High School offers the International Baccala ...

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. The population was 35,308 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census Greer is ...

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

College

Scott lettered at

Western Carolina Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

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 athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

selection. Scott graduated with a

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

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 ru ...

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; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

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 2010 census, the community had a population of 3,879. Geog ...

. Following that, Scott accepted a graduate assistant position at Louisiana–Lafayette while earning a master's degree from 2002 to 2004. Subsequently, Scott spent one year as the defensive line coach for

Norfolk State Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

before returning to his alma mater 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 line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

s. He spent three seasons at Western Carolina before spending the 2009 season as the defensive ends coach for

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

. After his stint at Missouri State, Scott accepted a position as the special teams and defensive line coach for

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

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 upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

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. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

under head coach

Kliff Kingsbury Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously a collegiate football coach from 2008 to ...

. 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 football defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Texas Tech. High school career Hyder played linebacker and defensive end ...

and

Branden Jackson Branden Jackson (born November 11, 1992) is a former American football 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, ...

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

, under head coach

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

, 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 intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

and head coach

Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is currently the head American football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bielema served as the head football coach at of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2006 to 2012 ...

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. 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 ...

that Scott was hired as the new defensive line coach at the University of South Carolina. Under Scott Jr.'s guidance,

Javon Kinlaw Javon Kinlaw (born 3 October 1997) is a Trinidadian professional American football defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina, and was drafted by the 49ers in t ...

was named first-team All-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 Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

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 Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska African-American coaches of American football Players of American football from Nebraska 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 African-American players of American football Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople