GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- When Gators head coach
Dan Mullen left as Florida's offensive coordinator after the 2008 season to become head coach at Mississippi State, he took UF assistant
John Hevesy with him to coach the Bulldogs offensive line.
One of the players Hevesy inherited was
D.J. Looney, a popular figure on the team despite his role as a little-used reserve. Looney revealed an interest in becoming a coach and in 2011 joined Mullen's staff as an offensive graduate assistant. Looney's career took off from there and made stops at East Mississippi Community College, Central Arkansas and Georgia prior to reuniting with Mullen and Hevesy in 2017 as Mississippi State's tight ends coach.
The 31-year-old Looney, entering his third season as an assistant offensive line coach at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, died of a heart attack during a team workout on Saturday. The news prompted many tributes from the tight-knit college coaching fraternity, including Looney's former position coach at MSU.
Mississippi State athletic director
John Cohen, who replaced
Scott Stricklin when Stricklin left to become Florida's AD in 2016, recalled Looney's impact on the Starkville campus.
"The entire Mississippi State Family is deeply saddened and heartbroken by the loss of one of our very own in D.J. Looney," Cohen said in a statement. "D.J. was an outstanding student-athlete and coach and an even better person. He had such a positive personality, attitude and always a smile on his face. D.J. will be remembered and missed by all who knew and loved him. Our thoughts and prayers are with D.J., his family, his friends, his former teammates, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Mississippi State."
For more the guy his friends called "The Mayor,"
here is a tribute from
TheAthletic.com by
Bruce Feldman and
Chris Vannini.
Meanwhile, here are some other stories from around the internet this Sunday morning Gators fans might find interesting:
-- One of Looney's college teammates, former Mississippi State linebacker
Jamar Chaney, was an assistant director of playing personnel for the Gators a season ago. He
recently returned to Mississippi State as a senior defensive analyst and is considered an up-and-comer writes
Matt Zenitz of
AL.com.
--
Orlando Sentinel columnist
Mike Bianchi is not a fan of the
SEC's decision to cancel the Gators-Seminoles rivalry in 2020 for a conference-only schedule.
-- In case you missed it, Stricklin shared good news this week that
the Gators are in a stage with no positive COVID-19 cases writes
Robbie Andreu of the
Gainesville Sun.
-- In the wake of the UF-FSU news,
Tampa Bay Times reporter
Matt Baker recalls past controversies prior to the rivalry taking hold.
-- Former Gators coach
Urban Meyer provides the reason he expects the Gators to be elite in Mullen's third season via
Brad Crawford of
247Sports.com.
-- Former UF standout
Joakim Noah is
ready for his new journey with Clippers writes
Mirjam Swanson of the
Orange County (Calif.) Register.
-- Royals general manager
Dayton Moore explains decision to move forward with young pitchers this season, including ex-Gators standout
Brady Singer, writes
Lynn Worthy of the
Kansas City Star.
-- Former Gators offensive lineman
Jawaan Taylor, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars,
recalls hooking that fish that was bigger than him recently from
Mike DiRocco of
ESPN.com.
-- During some interesting times in our country and college athletics,
Pac-12 student-athletes have united with a list of specific demands -- some worth attention and others perhaps naive and overreaching -- during the coronavirus pandemic via
ThePlayersTribune.com.
--
Ben Hill Griffin III, whose father's name adorns the home of the Gators football program, passed away last week and is remembered for
his colossal presence in the state's citrus industry writes
Kevin Bouffard of the
Lakeland Ledger.
INSIDE THE GATORS
Check out this behind-the-scenes video from Florida's football video staff that takes fans behind the curtain during the coronavirus pandemic:
