Football Names Jay Guillermo To Offensive Line Post

MACON – Mercer football head coach Drew Cronic announced an addition to his coaching staff on Monday afternoon when he named six-year collegiate coaching veteran Jay Guillermo as offensive line coach for the Bears.

Guillermo makes the move to Middle Georgia from Johnson City, Tenn., where he spent last season as the offensive line coach for Southern Conference rival East Tennessee State. He has previous stops at four other collegiate institutions as well, including a pair of Southern Conference squads, and possesses a championship pedigree as a starter on Clemson's 2017 national championship team.

"I am ecstatic about having the opportunity to add someone with Jay's credentials to our coaching staff," Cronic said. "In addition to having a national championship under his belt as a player, success has followed him at each stop of his coaching career as well. I have no doubt that he will make an immediate impact with our team as well as we continue to build on the success of our program."

Guillermo was the engineer behind an offensive line at East Tennessee State that helped pave the way for one of the Southern Conference's top rushing attacks (154.9 rushing yards/game) last season. The Bucs topped the 200-rushing yard plateau four times across the 2023 campaign, including a 286-yard performance in an early November shootout with league rival VMI. He also mentored Luke Smith to a spot on the postseason All-SoCon squad as well.

The Maryville, Tenn., got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant coach at Georgia State for the 2019 campaign, and then broke into the profession on a full-time basis as the tight ends coach at Western Carolina for an abbreviated Spring 2021 campaign. In addition to coaching WCU's leading receiver, Owen Cosenke, Guillermo also helped steer a unit that ranked among national leaders in sacks and tackles for loss allowed.

Guillermo spent the 2021 campaign as the offensive line coach at Carson-Newman, a perennial national contender on the NCAA Division II level, and then made the move to Charlottesville, Va., where he served as a graduate assistant coach for Virginia during the 2022 campaign.

A dominant offensive lineman for head coach Dabo Swinney at Clemson from 2012-16, Guillermo helped the Tigers amass a 60-9 clip during his time in Death Valley, including a 35-5 record against Atlantic Coast Conference foes. Clemson captured a pair of ACC titles across that span, and made five bowl appearances, including berths into the College Football Playoffs (CFP) that culminated both the 2015 and 2016 campaigns for the Tigers.

Guillermo saw action in 46 games (29 starts) across his collegiate career, and amassed 69 knockdowns in more than 2,550 snaps as a leader on the offensive line. A four-time ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week and 2016 Hammer Strength All-American selection, he was voted as a permanent captain as the starting center for the 2016 Deshaun Watson-led squad that posted a 14-1 record, including a 35-31 win over Alabama in the national championship game.

Guillermo earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Clemson in 2016. He and his wife, Ava, are the proud parents of one daughter, Luna, and are expecting their second child in February.

Mercer University Athletics

Football Names Jay Guillermo To Offensive Line Post

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