By Justin Jarrett
On more than one occasion, it has appeared that Dee Delaney’s days playing football might be over, and now it seems they really are.
But it has always been abundantly clear that Delaney wasn’t ready to be done with football, and it seems he still isn’t.
The Whale Branch Early College High School alumnus is coming home to coach on the same field where he starred in high school, taking the reins as the school’s new head football coach. Delaney replaces Willie White, who held the position on an interim basis this school year after efforts to hire a long-term replacement for veteran coach Jerry Hatcher failed last summer.
A four-sport standout who graduated in 2013, Delaney helped put Whale Branch on the map in the school’s infancy. As a senior, he was the No. 2 scorer on a boys basketball team that finished state runner-up and starred as a receiver and defensive back for Hatcher’s football program, earning a North-South all-star game nod and a scholarship to The Citadel.
A two-time FCS All-America selection for the Bulldogs, Delaney played his final collegiate season as a graduate transfer at the University of Miami, but he didn’t hear his name called on NFL Draft day. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars and assigned to the practice squad, briefly earning a promotion to the active roster, but he didn’t stick.
After short tenures with Miami, the New York Jets, and Washington in 2019, Delaney found himself out of football. He came back home and went to work trying to earn another chance, which came in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Delaney spent three full seasons with the Bucs, appearing in all 17 games in 2022 and 2023 and making five career starts.
After short stints with Buffalo and Dallas in 2024, Delaney spent last season with the Michigan Panthers of the USFL.
Now he’s ready to see the game from a new perspective and lead a growing number of Whale Branch alums on staff.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.