James Rowe Coaching Young Players, Like Fuller and Nicholson, In First Season as Assistant DB Coach

Current Redskins Role: Assistant Defensive Backs Coach (1st year)

Experience as a Player: 3 year letterman (baseball, University of South Florida)

Coaching Highlights: Defensive Coordinator (2014, Jacksonville University), Defensive Coordinator (2016, Valdosta State - GA)

What He Brings to the Team: Rowe rose quickly to the role of coordinator at a pair of colleges in the South since starting out as a graduate assistant at Bethel University (Tennessee) in 2011. Rowe’s former boss, Valdosta State Head Coach Kerwin Bell, praised Rowe’s ability to interact with players when he hired Rowe in 2016: “[He’s] is a great communicator. That’s probably his number one strength, is his ability to communicate with these young men. I also think he is a very cerebral guy that makes a lot of great adjustments during game situations, and I think he is going to be a great asset for our program as we move forward.” This year, his first in the NFL, he’ll be tasked with communicating valuable coaching advice to both talented veterans, like Josh Norman and D.J. Swearinger, and young players on the rise, like Kendall Fuller, Fabian Moreau, and Montae Nicholson.

Fun Fact: Rowe crossed paths with now Redskins Defensive Backs Coach Torrian Gray in 2016. Gray was the defensive backs coach at Florida when Rowe spent the year as a defensive graduate assistant.