Gators hire running backs coach

Kenny Carter, a former assistant at Vanderbilt and Louisiana State, has been hired to coach Florida's running backs.

Carter replaces Stan Drayton, who left last month for Tennessee.

Carter, who has also coached at Penn State, Pitt, Furman and The Citadel - his alma mater - inherits a running back corps that has underperformed in recent seasons. No Gator has rushed for 1,000 yards since Urban Meyer arrived in 2005, and the team's leading rushers in 2007 were quarterback Tim Tebow and receiver Percy Harvin.

"If you're a competitor, you take that to heart," Carter said. "You do what you need to do to make sure the area of responsibility you have becomes productive. It's one of the main things that drew me to the job."

Carter's hiring leaves one remaining vacancy on Meyer's staff, which lost three assistants this off-season. Meyer has yet to replace safeties coach John "Doc" Holliday, who is now the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at West Virginia.

FSU to hire FIU's Coley, sources say: The Seminoles will hire James Coley, most recently Florida International's offensive coordinator, as its tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, sources said.

Coley, who graduated from Florida State in 1997, spent 2003-04 as an offensive graduate assistant at LSU, working under Jimbo Fisher, FSU's offensive coordinator and designated successor to Bobby Bowden as head coach. He then spent two seasons as an offensive assistant with the Dolphins before moving to FIU.

Coley will replace John Lilly, who left FSU to become an assistant at Georgia.

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