Aubrey Pleasant is an American football coach who is the assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Wisconsin and was previously an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Rams, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.

Aubrey Pleasant
Los Angeles Rams
Position:Assistant head coach & passing game coordinator
Personal information
Born:Flint, Michigan, U.S.
Career information
High school:Flint (MI) Northern
Hill-McCloy (MI)
College:Wisconsin (2005–2008)
Undrafted:2009
Career history
As a coach:

Early life

edit

Pleasant grew up in Flint, Michigan, where he attended Montrose High School and earned all-city running back honors as a sophomore. He graduated from Montrose Community Schools after receiving Class B all-state honorable mention at safety his senior year.

College football career

edit

Pleasant was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school and committed to the University of Wisconsin, where he was a 3-year letterman from 2005 to 2008, with 41 career appearances and 14 starts at safety. He finished his college career with 80 tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and an appearance in four consecutive bowl games: the 2006 and 2007 Capital One Bowls, the 2008 Outback Bowl and the 2009 Champs Sports Bowl. Pleasant earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Wisconsin in 2009 and his master's in education while coaching at Michigan.[1]

Coaching career

edit

Grand Blanc High School

edit

Pleasant began coaching at Grand Blanc High School. He worked mostly with the defensive backs and was a behavioral specialist and special needs teacher in the Flint Community School District.

Michigan

edit

He was then hired by the University of Michigan as a graduate assistant and worked mainly with the defensive backs, where they allowed 190.5 yards per game and 17.4 points per game, making them 16th and 6th in the nation, respectively. The defense allowed only 12 touchdown passes and led the Big Ten with 29 takeaways as well as 20 fumble recoveries, which tied for first in the FBS. Pleasant was promoted to assistant defensive backs coach the following year, where the Wolverines' defense improved to 13th and 5th following the 2012 season.

Cleveland Browns

edit

In 2013 he was hired by the Cleveland Browns as an offensive staff and head coaching intern during training camp.

Washington Redskins

edit

Following training camp, he was hired as an offensive assistant by the Washington Redskins and promoted to defensive quality control coach the following year.[2] He assisted defensive backs coach Raheem Morris with the development of rookie Bashaud Breeland, who went on to tie for the rookie lead in passes defensed with 14. The following year, Perry Fewell replaced Morris as DB's coach, where he and Pleasant helped with the transition of DeAngelo Hall and developments of rookies Quinton Dunbar and Kyshoen Jarrett.

Los Angeles Rams

edit

Following the 2016 season, he was hired by the Los Angeles Rams as their cornerbacks coach under new head coach Sean McVay, where he worked closely with defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in implementing the defensive scheme in L.A. As cornerbacks coach for the Rams, five different cornerbacks have recorded at least two interceptions in a season, including Marcus Peters, Troy Hill and Darious Williams in 2018, when the Rams went on to participate in Super Bowl LIII.

Detroit Lions

edit

The Detroit Lions hired Pleasant as pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach on January 28, 2021.[3] Following the team's 1-6 start to the 2022 season, Pleasant was fired by the Lions on October 31, 2022.[4][5]

Green Bay Packers

edit

After being fired by the Lions, on November 14, 2022, Pleasant was hired by the Green Bay Packers as an offensive consultant, in order to give head coach Matt LaFleur defensive perspectives.[6]

Los Angeles Rams (second stint)

edit

On February 16, 2023, Pleasant was rehired by the Los Angeles Rams as defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator.[7] Prior to the 2024 season, Pleasant retained the passing game coordinator position while taking on the additional title of assistant head coach. For a preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Rams head coach Sean McVay turned over head coaching responsibilities to Pleasant. With McVay in the coach's booth and Pleasant on the field, the Rams defeated the Chargers 13-9.[8]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Aubrey Pleasant". uwbadgers.com. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  2. ^ Woodyard, Eric (September 20, 2013). "Flint native Aubrey Pleasant's job is to help Redskins crush Lions on Sunday". mlive. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  3. ^ "Lions add Aubrey Pleasant to coaching staff". Detroit Lions. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  4. ^ Reisman, Jeremy (October 31, 2022). "REPORT: Detroit Lions fire DBs coach Aubrey Pleasant". Pride Of Detroit. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  5. ^ Pouncy, Nick Baumgardner and Colton. "Lions fire DB coach Aubrey Pleasant". The Athletic. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  6. ^ "Packers hire former Lions assistant coach Aubrey Pleasant as offensive coaching consultant". Packers Wire. November 14, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  7. ^ Flick, Daniel (February 17, 2023). "Rams Hire Ex-Fired Lions Coach as Defensive Assistant". Sports Illustrated LA Rams News, Analysis and More. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  8. ^ Jackson, Stu (August 17, 2024). "'I want to thank this organization for believing in me': Head coach opportunity vs. Chargers meaningful for Rams' Aubrey Pleasant". TheRams.com. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
edit