Source: Rice DL coach Michael Slater joining Kansas in same position

Rice defensive line coach Michael Slater will fill the same position under Kansas coach David Beaty, according to a source.

This past season was Slater’s fourth in his position at Rice. He replaces former Kansas defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux, who earlier this week accepted the same position at Oklahoma.

In 2014, the savvy Slater tutored defensive lineman Christian Covington, a sixth-round pick by the NFL’s Houston Texans last year. That same year Slater’s unit helped the Owls set a single-season record with 39 sacks.

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Prior to Slater’s most recent tenure at Rice, he was Angelo State’s defensive line coach for a season. That was after he was a defensive graduate assistant at Rice from 2008–10.

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Before that, Slater spent a combined 12 seasons as an assistant coach at Houston high schools. The first five of those years were spent coaching defensive line and special teams at Alief Hastings High and the last seven were in the same positions at Alief Taylor High.

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A Dickinson, Texas native, Slater got his start in coaching in ’93 as a student assistant at Texas State, where he played football. Kansas was winless this past season in Beaty’s inaugural campaign with the Jayhawks.

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