Steve Spurrier's grandson, Gavin Spurrier, hired as Austin Peay QB coach

Austin Peay football has hired Gavin Spurrier as its passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the program announced.

Spurrier, the grandson of legendary college football coach Steve Spurrier, most recently served as the assistant tight ends coach at Texas A&M.

From 2019-22, Gavin Spurrier was a walk-on quarterback at Duke, where he played under current Austin Peay coach Jeff Faris. Faris was the Blue Devils' tight ends coach and offensive recruiting coordinator from 2018-20 and served as co-offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2021.

Spurrier appeared in one game during his career at Duke and joined the coaching staff there after graduating, serving as an offensive quality control coach. When Mike Elko left Duke to become Texas A&M's coach in 2024, Spurrier followed him, and spent the last two years with the Aggies as an offensive graduate assistant.

Spurrier is the son of Steve Spurrier Jr., who is an offensive analyst at Florida. Steve Spurrier Sr. coached at Duke (1987-89), Florida (1990-2001), South Carolina (2005-15) and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

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The Governors went 7-5 (4-4 United Athletic Conference) in 2025, their second season under Faris. Faris recently signed a contract extension through 2030. Spurrier will work with quarterback Chris Parson, who racked up 3,746 total yards and 37 touchdowns last season and was named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the top offensive player in FCS.

APSU also announced three other staff hires on Feb. 9: chief of staff Christian Mitchell, defensive line coach Darien Moody and wide receiver coach Johnathan Lloyd.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on X/Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Austin Peay hires Gavin Spurrier, Steve Spurrier's grandson, as QB coach