The Miami Dolphins are hardly resting on their laurels after overachieving in 2020 en route to a 5-11 record. Quite the contrary, actually. Head coach Brian Flores fired his offensive coordinator and now has tabbed a little known assistant to come to Miami and serve in a brand new role — Illinois defensive line coach Austin Clark is expected to join Flores’ staff and coach outside linebackers.
In 2019, former Clemson Tigers DL coach Marion Hobby took the same job with the Dolphins — but the outside linebackers in Flores’ scheme flexible system are only sometimes pass rushers and sometimes traditional off-ball athletes. So from that perspective, getting a true outside linebacker coach seems like a natural benefit and a wise decision.
Any prior connections linking Clark to the Dolphins? If there are, they are not overly apparent. He worked at USC and Illinois before making the jump to the NFL — but he is considered to be a promising young coach. Pairing him with a gifted DL coach in Hobby to coach the big guys up front should help get a little more productivity out of the pass rush room — although the real improvements are going to come as both groups are infused with more talent.
That will be soon before long — Dolphins fans should expect Clark’s prized pupil to be either a young free agent signing or a high selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
