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Te XAN S
Jethro Franklin
Defensive Line Coach
8th NFL Season • 2nd with Texans
Jethro Franklin enters his second season as the
Texans defensive line coach after making an immediate
impact on the defensive line in his first
year in Houston.
Under Franklin’s watch, second-year DE Mario
Williams shattered the franchise single-season
sack record with 14 sacks, earning him secondteam
All-Pro honors. Rookie DT Amobi Okoye
set the team’s rookie sack record with 5.5,
breaking Williams’ mark of 4.5 from 2006. The
duo’s combined 19.5 sacks made them the most
prolific inside-outside sack tandem in the NFL in
2007.
Franklin spent the 2006 season with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers as the defensive line coach.
The Bucs finished the year 17th in total defense.
He spent the 2005 season at USC where the
Trojans advanced to the BCS Title Game. USC
had two players, DE Frostee Rucker and DT
LaJuan Ramsey, selected in the 2006 NFL Draft.
Franklin spent five seasons with the Green
Bay Packers (2000-04) as defensive line coach
under former Texans offensive coordinator
Mike Sherman. In 2004, under Franklin’s guidance,
Packers DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila tied his
career high and led the team with 13.5 sacks,
which ranked second in the NFC and third in the
NFL. Franklin helped the speedy pass rusher become
the first player in Packers history to post
double-digit sacks in four consecutive seasons
(2001-04). From 2001-02, Franklin’s unit contributed
to 95 quarterback takedowns, a club record
for sacks in consecutive years. During his five
year tenure in Green Bay, Franklin helped lead
the Packers to the playoffs four times (2001-04).
In helping the Packers defense surrender
only 237 points in 2001, the fifth-lowest total in
the league, Franklin’s linemen contributed to
a team-record 52 sacks, good for third in the
NFL. The constant pressure up front led to the
defense allowing just 10.3 yards per pass play,
the second-lowest figure in the NFL and tops in
the NFC, as well as allowing only 4.7 yards per
play overall, the sixth-best mark in the league.
Franklin’s work in 2000, his first year in Green
Bay, was similarly successful. The Packers
yielded a mere seven rushing touchdowns, the
second-lowest total in the NFL and the secondfewest
yielded by the Packers since 1962.
Prior to joining Green Bay, he coached the interior
defensive line at UCLA in 1999, following
eight years (1991-98) as defensive line coach
at Fresno State. A coach in three bowl games
at Fresno State, Franklin’s tutoring produced
several all-conference players.
A veteran of two NFL coaching fellowships,
Franklin worked with Buffalo in the summer
of 1994 after receiving the Ralph C. Wilson,
Jr., Minority Coaching Fellowship, and in the
summer of 1995 interned with the Cleveland
Browns.
Franklin earned back-to-back All-America honors
in 1986 and 1987 at Fresno State He finished
his career with 31.5 sacks, second on Fresno
State’s all-time list. He set a then school record
with 19.5 sacks as a junior and, as a senior,
was named Pacific Coast Athletic Association
Defensive Player of the Year and the Bulldogs’
Most Valuable Player. He later earned a bachelor’s
degree in criminology from Fresno State
in 1989.
Franklin returns to Houston where he was an
11th-round draft choice by the Oilers in 1988. He
was the No. 1 draft choice of the San Antonio
Rough Riders of the World League of American
Football (WLAF) in the winter of 1991, he instead
opted to start his coaching career.
Franklin was born in St. Lazaire, France, where
his father was stationed in the military. He and
his wife, Cherise, have two children Khalil and
Takara.
coaches
franklin’s C O A C H I N G L E D G E R
2007-08 Defensive Line Houston Texans
2006 Defensive Line Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2005 Defensive Line Southern California
2000-04 Defensive Line Green Bay Packers
1999 Defensive Line UCLA
1991-98 Defensive Line Fresno State
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