Florida is expected to hire Kentucky's Brad White as its new defensive coordinator, per Graham Hall and Zach Goodall of Swamp247.
White marks the first hire for Florida under the leadership of new head coach Jon Sumrall and general manager David Caldwell, both of whom were officially introduced in a press conference Monday.
Sumrall and White's relationship goes back to 2019-21, when they coached on the same staff in Lexington. Sumrall served as the inside linebacker coach on White's defensive staff in 2019-2020, and served as his co-defensive coordinator in 2021.
Now, Sumrall will serve as White's boss in Gainesville.
White, 43, has served eighth seasons as the outside linebackers coach at Kentucky, and seven as the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator. He was elevated to the defensive coordinator by former head coach Mark Stoops in February 2019.
In his first season at Kentucky, White helped coach edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen to one of the most impressive single-season performances in Wildcats' history. Hines-Allen won National Defensive Player of the Year honors and was a unanimous All-America First Team selection that season, leading the team with 88 tackles and pacing the Southeastern Conference in sacks (17.0), tackles for loss (21.5) and forced fumbles (5).
Since White’s first season in Lexington, Kentucky has performed as one of the top defenses in the SEC, putting together seven consecutive top-45 defenses in the nation from 2018-24. That included four top-25 defenses in the nation (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022).
In 2025, however, the Wildcats' defense regressed, allowing 26.4 points and 374.2 yards per game, ranking No. 13 and No. 12 in the Southeastern Conference, respectively.
Before heading to Lexington, White spent six years with the Indianapolis Colts. He served as the outside linebackers coach from 2015-17, an assistant linebackers coach in 2014 and the defensive quality control coach from 2012-13.
Prior to his coaching career, White, like Sumrall, was a linebacker in the SEC. He played at Georgia in 2000 and at Wake Forest from 2001-2004. In his first season at Wake Forest, he led the team in total tackles with 94. He finished his career with 227 total tackles, starting 34 of 35 games he appeared in.
He then served as a graduate assistant at Wake Forest from 2007-2008, the safeties coach at Murray State in 2009 and the inside linebackers coach at Air Force from 2010-2011.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his sixth semester at The Alligator and now serves as The Alligator's Football Reporter and is a junior sports journalism student. He previously served as The Alligator's Sports Editor, and served as reporter for women's tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. He wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Tomas Kopecky).
