Buster Faulkner leaves Georgia Tech to be Florida's OC

Florida's rebuild under Jon Sumrall just got a lot more interesting. The Gators have hired Buster Faulkner as their new offensive coordinator, pulling him out of Georgia Tech after 3 seasons running one of the ACC's best offenses.

Pete Nakos

@PeteNakos

Jon Sumrall landed one of the offseason's top OC hires, prying Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech to Florida. A hot name for G6 jobs recently, GT's offense ranked 2nd in the ACC in total offense (437.7) over his 3 seasons. P4 coordinators to watch: t.co/cT9QOawWit

The numbers Pete Nakos flagged aren't fluff. Faulkner's Georgia Tech offense finished 2nd in the ACC in total offense at 437.7 yards per game over his 3-year run, and he'd been near the top of the list for any Group of 6 head-coaching opening. Florida beat that market to him entirely — he's headed straight to the SEC instead.

Faulkner's not some hire out of nowhere. He was part of Kirby Smart's staff at Georgia during the back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, developing Stetson Bennett along the way, and before that he won a Division II national title as a player and later as head coach at his alma mater, Valdosta State. This past season, FootballScoop named him its 2025 Offensive Coordinator of the Year.

It also isn't a cold hire for Sumrall. He and Faulkner reportedly had a relationship in place even before this — Sumrall was building his name as Tulane's head coach while Faulkner ran Georgia Tech's offense, and the fit had apparently been on the radar for a while even though the two had never coached together.

For Florida, this is about identity. Sumrall inherits a program that needs an offense with teeth, and Faulkner's Georgia Tech units were physical — 1st in the ACC in rushing over his tenure to go with that top-2 total offense mark. Pairing that track record with SEC recruiting is exactly the kind of swing Gator fans want to see from a new staff.

Georgia Tech now has to replace an OC who'd built a reputation as one of the best in the conference, right as the coordinator carousel heats up across the sport. Florida, meanwhile, gets to build out the rest of Sumrall's staff around a proven playcaller — and the pressure now shifts to whether that offense translates from Atlanta to Gainesville.