DJ Durkin working as a guest coach with Falcons during camp

[Freddie Falcon]

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Former Maryland head coach DJ Durkin is working with the Falcons as a guest coach during training camp.

Maryland placed Durkin on administrative leave following the death of Jordan McNair due to practice-related heatstroke last summer. The school fired Durkin on Oct. 31.

Durkin, 41, worked with Falcons head coach Dan Quinn at Florida, where Durkin was the linebackers coach from 2010-2012 and Quinn was the defensive coordinator for two of those seasons.

“I hope people would understand, and people know me well enough, that nothing is more important than team,” Quinn said, via video from Vaughn McClure of ESPN, via NFL.com. “The fact that I know this coach firsthand, I know what his character is, and then the due diligence that goes with that, I would certainly hope that anyone covering the team or the fan base knows that I always have the team’s best interest in mind and would never put anybody in a space that would be otherwise.

“That said, it’s not that unusual for me to have people come to be a part of our program and add value to it for a smaller period of time. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again in the future.”