Jonathan Celestin

Jonathan Celestin is in his second season as a defensive graduate assistant with the Virginia program in 2024.  He worked as a defensive graduate assistant at Wyoming for the 2022 season before joining the Cavalier staff.

Celestin played his college football at Minnesota, where he was a linebacker for the Gophers from 2014-17.  He was selected as the Gophers’ Linebacker of the Year in 2016.  In his senior season of 2017, Celestin was named a team captain and went on to be named his team’s Defensive Most Valuable Player.   He was also one of the recipients of a 2017 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.  Celestin was part of Minnesota teams that played in the 2014 Citrus Bowl, won the 2015 Quick Lane Bowl and won the 2016 Holiday Bowl.

Celestin’s NFL career included time with the Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers between 2018-21.  He also played for the XFL’s D.C. Defenders in the 2020 spring season.

He served as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Minnesota in the summer of 2021.

Prior to joining the Wyoming staff, Celestin also spent time as a special education paraprofessional at Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minn., starting in September of 2020.  He served as an outside linebacker coach for the Eden Prairie High football team, was an assistant coach for the high school basketball team at Eden Prairie and was the head coach for the junior varsity basketball team.

Celestin earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Minnesota in 2018.