Alabama football seems to have found its next offensive line coach in Chris Kapilovic and next tight ends coach in Bryan Ellis.
The longtime offensive line coach is set to join Kalen DeBoer's staff, ESPN reported Monday . Kapilovic had accepted a job at Baylor coaching the offensive line in December, but he won't coach for the Bears, instead going to Tuscaloosa. He spent the 2020 through 2023 seasons at Michigan State.
Meanwhile, Ellis leaves Georgia Southern where he is the offensive coordinator, as 247Sports reported Monday he is expected to be the next Alabama tight ends coach. He has been the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Georgia Southern since 2022. Prior to arriving at Georgia Southern, Ellis spent 2019-2020 as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks at Western Kentucky then 2021 as co-offensive coordinator/inside receivers at Western Kentucky.
Kapilovic takes over for Scott Huff who briefly filled the offensive line coach opening under DeBoer before Huff departed with offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to the Seattle Seahawks .
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Grubb leaving opened up the offensive coordinator spot; Nick Sheridan is expected to be the next offensive coordinator, sources confirmed to The Tuscaloosa News. He was set to be the tight ends coach for Alabama, so that meant DeBoer needed to hire someone to replace Sheridan with the promotion.
Kapilovic served as the assistant head coach/offensive line/run-game coordinator from 2021-2023 for Michigan State. That included the 2021 season when running back Kenneth Walker III was second in the country in rushing yards with 1,636, averaging 6.2 yards per carry and tallying 18 rushing touchdowns.
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Prior to working at Michigan State, Kapilovic worked as the offensive line/run-game coordinator at Colorado in 2019. Before that, he was the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at North Carolina from 2016-2018. That was his senior-most role with the Tarheels; he also worked as co-offensive coordinator/offensive line from 2014-2015 and run-game coordinator/offensive line from 2012-2013.
Other stops for Kapilovic include Southern Miss, Missouri State, Alabama State, Kansas, Phoenix College and Deer Valley (Ariz.) High School. He got his start as a student assistant coach at Missouri State in 1991, where he played offensive tackle.
Ellis has also worked at USC (quarterbacks) in 2017-2018. Before then, Ellis had his first stint at Western Kentucky from 2014-2016, working in a variety of offensive assistant coaching roles. Ellis got his start as a graduate assistant from 2012-2013 at UAB, his alma mater. Ellis was a quarterback at UAB from 2007-2011.
These moves should close out the on-field coaching staff for Alabama with spring practice fast approaching.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter .
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Chris Kapilovic, Bryan Ellis added to Alabama football coaching staff | Reports
