JACKSONVILLE – Rich Rodriguez's first staff at Jacksonville State came closer to being completed on Thursday, when he announced that Zac Alley would be his defensive coordinator and William Green would return to coach the Gamecocks' defensive line.
 
Alley takes over the Gamecocks' defense after serving as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at ULM in 2021, while Green comes back to JSU after coaching ULM's defensive line coach in 2021. He was JSU's defensive line coach for four seasons from 2017-20.
 


Alley was the youngest defensive coordinator in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, when he took over at ULM in 2021 at the age of 28. A member of 247Sports' "30 Under 30" list, Alley joined the Warhawks after a winless season in 2020 and helped lead them to four wins and back into contention in the Sun Belt Conference.
 
He turned what was the 125^th-ranked rushing defense in FBS in 2020 into the 69^th-ranked rush defense in 2021 and saw the Warhawks improve in the national rankings in 11 of the 14 defensive categories from 2020 to 2021.
 
Prior to ULM, Alley was Bryan Harsin's co-special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Boise State. In two seasons, he led the Broncos to a 17-4 record and a 13-game win streak in Mountain West Conference play. In 2020, FootballScoop.com named Alley one of its Special Teams Coordinators of the Year.
 
He previously worked for four years (2015-18) under Dabo Swinney as a graduate assistant at Clemson, his alma mater. Alley spent his entire postgraduate career on the defensive side of the football, where he worked primarily with the defensive tackles and linebackers. During his tenure, Clemson won two National Championships, four Atlantic Coast Conference titles and compiled a combined record of 55-4 (.932).
 
Alley also had a defensive coaching internship with the National Football League's Carolina Panthers.
 
He started working as a student assistant in the Clemson Football Office as a freshman in 2011 and spent four years in that capacity while earning his bachelor's degree in business management in December 2014. Alley completed his master's in human resource development from Clemson in August 2017.
 
Alley graduated from Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School, where he played linebacker and offensive line.
 


Green returns to JSU after helping Alley guide the Warhawks defense in 2020, when his defensive line unit set the tone for a rushing defense that improved 56 spots in the FBS national rankings from 2020 before he joined the staff. His unit was also strong when it counted, holding opposing offenses to a .353 success rate on fourth downs, the eighth-best mark in the nation.
 
Prior to going to ULM, Green coached the Gamecocks' defensive line and was also their run game coordinator. In four seasons, JSU went 28-13 (.683), including an 18-6 record (.750) in Ohio Valley Conference games, won back-to-back league titles in 2017-18 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision those same two seasons.
 
Prior to being hired as JSU's defensive line coach in 2017, Green was a graduate assistant for his alma mater, Florida, in 2016 after serving as a graduate assistant the Gamecocks under Todd Bates, who is now the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma, in 2014 and 2015.
 
Green's first season saw the Gamecock defense dominate the opposition as one of the best units in the nation. The 2017 unit ranked second nationally in total defense, third in run defense, sixth in scoring defense and fifth in pass efficiency defense. The front line played in its opponent's backfield for much of the year, leading the OVC and ranking eighth nationally in tackles for loss.
 
Randy Robinson grabbed All-OVC honors on the defensive line in Green's first season, one that saw his defense lead JSU to a 10-2 record and the No. 3 national seed in the FCS Playoffs. It was the third-straight year that JSU had earned a top three seed in the playoffs, while the Gamecocks' 8-0 record in OVC play led to their fourth-straight league title and extended the longest active conference win streak in Division I football to 32 games.
 
Green's second season saw similar success, with Robinson grabbing All-America honors and All-OVC honors once more. He wasn't alone, as fellow tackle Connor Christian also grabbed All-OVC accolades up front. JSU led the OVC and ranked seventh nationally in tackles for loss and was 15th in FCS in total defense. The defensive front set the tone for a unit that ranked second nationally in third-down conversion defense and led the Gamecocks to their OVC-record fifth-straight conference title.
 
Green played for the Gators from 2008-11, seeing action in 53 games. He recorded 53 tackles, 11 for a loss, 2.5 sacks and a career-best 21 tackles in his senior season. He was a member of Florida's National Championship team as a freshman in 2008.
 
Green prepped at Spain Park High School in Hoover, where he was an All-American linebacker and defensive end for John Grass and the Jaguars in 2007.
 
Green was also a first team all-state selection and named to the Alabama Sports Writers Association's Super 12 Team in a senior season that saw him register 114 tackles, four sacks and a fumble recovery in SPHS's AHSAA Class 6A runner-up season before signing with Florida. 
 
Following his playing days at Florida, Green went to training camp with the Cleveland Browns and then played in the Arena Football League.