Vikings expected to hire Alabama's Karl Scott as DB coach

Scott, who'd worked for Nick Saban the past three years, would replace Daronte Jones.

February 6, 2021 at 10:53PM
Alabama defensive backs coach Karl Scott.
Alabama defensive backs coach Karl Scott. (University of Alabama/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

After Daronte Jones left the Vikings to become LSU's defensive coordinator last month, the team appears to be set to replace him with another coach from the SEC.

According to multiple reports, the Vikings are set to hire Alabama defensive backs coach Karl Scott to replace Jones. The Birmingham News first reported the move.

Scott has worked at Alabama since 2018, burnishing his reputation as a strong recruiter while molding a secondary that included second-round picks Trevon Diggs and Xavier McKinney, as well as cornerback Patrick Surtain II, who's expected to be a first-round pick this spring.

His time working for Nick Saban and teaching Alabama's pattern-matching scheme to young corners should aid his transition to his first NFL job working for Mike Zimmer, another defensive taskmaster who employs plenty of pattern-matching concepts in his coverage schemes. The Vikings praised Jones for the work he did with a young secondary through a virtual offseason last year; Scott could step into the NFL under similar constraints this year with the league's offseason program possibly remaining in a virtual format.

Scott had worked at Texas Tech before becoming the defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette in December 2017; he left that job weeks later, once he was offered the defensive backs coach job at Alabama.

about the writer

about the writer

Ben Goessling

Sports reporter

Ben Goessling has covered the Vikings since 2012, first at the Pioneer Press and ESPN before becoming the Minnesota Star Tribune's lead Vikings reporter in 2017. He was named one of the top NFL beat writers by the Pro Football Writers of America in 2024, after honors in the AP Sports Editors and National Headliner Awards contests in 2023.

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