FAYETTEVILLE — Second-year University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman is making a fourth off-season change to his on-field staff and is expected to hire Tulsa defensive line coach Jermial Ashley for the same position with the Razorbacks, according to sources with knowledge of the move.
Derrick LeBlanc, who handled the Arkansas defensive line in 2020, has been exploring a move to the NFL, sources told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Ashley, 38, has spent the past six seasons with the Golden Hurricane and was at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College and Oklahoma State prior to that. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Ashley played collegiately at Tyler (Texas) Junior College and Kansas, where he earned all-Big 12 honors in 2004 and 2005.
Ashley was on the UA campus on Monday, sources told the Democrat-Gazette.
Ashley would be the fourth new assistant coach on Pittman’s second-year staff, following receivers coach Kenny Guiton, linebackers coach Michael Scherer and tight ends coach Cody Kennedy.