Inside the Article:
The Detroit Lions made a key addition to head coach Dan Campbell‘s staff, bringing aboard former Penn State Nittany Lions staff member John Scott Jr. as the team's new defensive line coach. He'd previously held the role of defensive line coach/run game coordinator for Penn State in 2022 as well as the school's defensive line coach from 2020-21. Scott Jr. replaces Todd Walsh, who departed for the Carolina Panthers earlier in the year.
John Scott Jr. moved from teaching in the classroom to on the gridiron
John Scott Jr. comes to Detroit motivated to help build on the foundation that helped the Lions to a tremendous finish to last season.
“That's the one thing that I try and pride myself on when people watch groups that I coach, that we're really technically sound and that we play with good fundamentals,” he said. “Especially at this level when guys are so talented and the margin of error is so close, that's where your technique really shines. Getting guys to buy into that has been good for me over my career.”
John Scott Jr. is using his previous teaching experience in the classroom on the football field and explained that while the gridiron is much different than a classroom, the teaching aspect remains the same.
“I don't know how I do it but I've been able to communicate and articulate with guys and break things down. I've been able to develop guys. People don't know that I used to be a teacher, a 10th and 11th-grade English teacher. I played Arena ball and went over to the CFL for a little while in the summer and came back, and kind of got into that for two years, but that's when Ir really knew I wanted to coach. I didn't like the classroom as much, but really enjoyed the teaching aspect of coaching, and I became a graduate assistant and worked my way up. I changed my teaching environment but never stopped teaching.”
Wrapping it up: John Scott Jr. is ‘blessed' to be joining the Lions
“I said it in the press conference, but I feel very fortunate and blessed to come into an organization like this that is on the rise, and the way they finished, everyone in the National Football League was talking about the Detroit Lions and what coach Campbell is building,” John Scott said. “To have an opportunity to come into that, I feel very blessed and humbled.”
We're looking forward to seeing how coach Scott's past teaching experience helps further propel the Lions forward in 2023.
