Three more of the league’s offensive coordinator vacancies were filled on Friday. The Jaguars are among the teams who have yet to fill their OC position, though, and their search process is ongoing. So far, their search has been less than exhaustive, with the team only interviewing two candidates, Commanders quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard and Rams pass game specialist Nate Scheelhaase, to replace Press Taylor.

A third interview took place today, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, as the Jaguars hosted Vikings assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski. At only 29 years old, Udinski has been on a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks.

After going undrafted in 2019 as a defensive end out of Towson, Udinski traveled to Waco, TX, where he served for a year as a graduate assistant under then-Baylor head coach Matt Rhule. The next year, Udinski followed Rhule to Carolina as a coaching assistant for the Panthers, where he remained for two years.

Under the advice of Vikings passing game coordinator and tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, who had worked with Udinski for two years in Carolina, Minnesota hired Udinski on as assistant to the head coach/special projects in 2022. After a year in that role, Udinski was promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach, and this season, he added assistant offensive coordinator to his title, as well.

It’s not uncommon to see young coaches quickly rise through the ranks on offensive coaching staffs, but those phenoms are usually former quarterbacks with a high understanding of offensive schemes and philosophies. It’s strange to see so much offensive responsibility handed to a man who only seven years ago was playing defense at Towson as a walk-on. It probably doesn’t hurt that he was a CoSIDA academic first-team all-American with high marks at both the undergraduate and master’s levels of his education.

The Jaguars are not alone in their interest in Udinski, either. Today’s interview was Udinski’s fifth for an offensive coordinator role this offseason. A popular name, Udinski first interviewed twice with the Seahawks (a job that went to Klint Kubiak), then interviewed with the Patriots (a job that went to Josh McDaniels) before interviewing with the Buccaneers (a job that went to Josh Grizzard) and the Texans. While there’s a chance that the Houston and Jacksonville jobs may, too, fall out of his reach, it seems clear that Udinski’s trajectory is not slowing. The young coach is likely to find a home as a coordinator soon.

Despite having not hired an offensive coordinator yet, the Jaguars are reportedly actively looking to fill one of their position coaching jobs on the offensive side of the ball. Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Jacksonville requested permission to interview Bills offensive/offensive line assistant Austin Gund for what he called “their open offensive line coaching position,” which seems to indicate that incumbent offensive line coach Phil Rauscher will not be returning to the role. Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports adds that the team has requested to interview 49ers assistant offensive line coach Cameron Clemmons for the job, as well.

Here’s a breakdown of the Jaguars’ search to fill the offensive coordinator position:

• Chip Kelly, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach (Ohio State): Team has interest
• Tavita Pritchard, quarterbacks coach (Commanders): Interviewed 1/29
• Nate Scheelhaase, pass game specialist (Rams): Interviewed 1/29
• Grant Udinski, assistant quarterbacks coach (Vikings): Interviewed 1/31

Ely Allen contributed to this post.