Tyler Yelk

Tyler Yelk is in his first season as Nebraska’s safeties coach in 2026. Yelk boasts nearly two decades of coaching experience, including three years as a collegiate defensive coordinator and three years in the National Football League.

Yelk brings a winning pedigree to the Husker staff. He won a Division II national championship as a player and an assistant coach and was on the Philadelphia Eagles staff that won Super Bowl LIX and tied the NFL record for season wins. Yelk also coached at three different FCS programs and each program made at least one playoff appearance during his tenure. On the FBS level, Yelk helped Northern Illinois to a conference title in 2018.

Yelk has helped orchestrate top pass defenses throughout his coaching career. He has been a part of a top-25 pass defense at four of his six collegiate coaching stops. In the professional ranks, Yelk was a defensive assistant in 2025 when the Eagles allowed the fewest touchdown passes in the NFL.

BEFORE NEBRASKA
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Yelk spent three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Nebraska staff. He was a defensive assistant in 2025 after previously serving as head coach quality control in 2024 and assistant to the head coach in 2023. Yelk helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX.

In 2025, Yelk helped the Eagles rank fifth in the NFL in scoring defense. Philadelphia allowed only 14 touchdown passes, the fewest of any team in the NFL in 2025 and the fewest by any NFL team in four years. In 2024, Yelk and the Eagles tied an NFL record with 18 wins (regular season and playoffs) in a season that culminated with a win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX. As the assistant to the head coach in 2023, Yelk helped Philadelphia to an 11-6 record and a playoff appearance.

IDAHO: Yelk coached the safeties at Idaho in 2022 when Nebraska defensive coordinator Rob Aurich was the Vandals’ defensive coordinator. Idaho boasted one of the top pass defenses in the FCS in Yelk’s lone season coaching the safeties.

The Vandals ranked fifth in the FCS in interceptions (16) in 2022. Idaho was also in the top 25 in pass defense (19th) and team pass efficiency defense (23rd). Individually, safety Tommy McCormick was an All-Big Sky selection who went on to sign an NFL contract.

TEMPLE: Yelk spent three seasons at Temple from 2019 to 2021. He coached the safeties in his final two seasons after tutoring the nickels in his first season. Temple had a top-25 pass defense in two of his three seasons on staff.

Temple ranked fifth nationally in passing defense in 2021, allowing fewer than 180 yards per game. The Owls played only seven games during the 2020 Covid season, but in 2019 Yelk helped Temple rank seventh nationally in red zone defense, 12th in defensive touchdowns and 21st in pass efficiency defense.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS: Yelk was the safeties coach at Northern Illinois in 2018, when NIU won the Mid-American Conference championship. The Huskies ranked second in the MAC in total defense in Yelk’s one season on staff. Individually, Mykelti Williams was an all-conference selection.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Yelk was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at South Dakota in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the Coyotes ranked 19th in the FCS in defensive touchdowns and 20th in interceptions as South Dakota advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs. Individually, five Coyote defenders earned all-conference accolades in Yelk’s two seasons.

WESTERN ILLINOIS: Yelk was on the Western Illinois defensive staff for three seasons from 2013 to 2015. He served as the Leathernecks’ co-defensive coordinator in 2015 after coaching defensive backs and special teams in 2013 and 2014. Western Illinois totaled 36 interceptions in his three seasons on staff.

In 2015, Western Illinois ranked seventh in the FCS in interceptions and 33rd in pass efficiency defense. That season, Western Illinois made the FCS playoffs for the first time in five seasons. As the Leathernecks’ special teams coach in 2014, Yelk led a unit that ranked 10th in the FCS in blocked punts and 11th in blocked kicks. In his first season, Yelk’s defensive backs helped Western Illinois rank third in the FCS in pass defense, seventh in total defense, 14th in pass efficiency defense and first down defense and 15th in interceptions. On special teams, the Leathernecks were 16th in the FCS in punt returns

MINNESOTA-DULUTH: Yelk spent four years on the staff at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota Duluth, from 2009 to 2012. He coached the defensive backs each of his four seasons on the staff and was also the Bulldogs’ special teams coordinator in 2012.

UMD had tremendous success during Yelk’s tenure. The Bulldogs totaled 47 wins in his four seasons on staff with four conference championships and four Division II playoff appearances, including the 2010 national championship.

In 2012 with Yelk leading the special teams, UMD ranked second in Division II in kickoff returns. As the defensive backs coach, Yelk’s unit helped the Bulldogs rank seventh in total defense in 2011, 15th in scoring defense and 18th in pass defense. In 2010, UMD was No. 1 in scoring defense, 12th in total defense and 21st in pass efficiency defense. Minnesota-Duluth was second in scoring defense, fifth in total defense and 29th in pass efficiency defense in Yelk’s first season on staff in 2009.

PLAYING CAREER (MINNESOTA-DULUTH)
Yelk was a Division II national champion and an All-America defensive back at the University of Minnesota Duluth from 2005 to 2008. He ended his career as Minnesota-Duluth’s all-time leading tackler with 323 stops. Yelk was UMD’s defensive MVP in 2008, when he was named an All-American after the Bulldogs went 15-0 and won the Division II national championship.

PERSONAL
Yelk earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Minnesota-Duluth in 2008 and his master’s degree in education from UMD in 2012. He and his wife, Elyce, have two daughters, Leighton and Penelope.

COACHING CAREER
2026: Nebraska (Safeties)
2025: Philadelphia Eagles (Defensive Assistant)
2024: Philadelphia Eagles (Head Coach Quality Control)
2023: Philadelphia Eagles (Assistant to the Head Coach)
2022: Idaho (Safeties)
2020-21: Temple (Safeties)
2019: Temple (Nickels)
2018: Northern Illinois (Safeties)
2016-17: South Dakota (Co-Defensive Coordinator/Safeties)
2015: Western Illinois (Co-Defensive Coordinator)
2013-14: Western Illinois (Defensive Backs/Special Teams)
2012: Minnesota-Duluth (Defensive Backs/Special Teams Coordinator)
2009-11: Minnesota-Duluth (Defensive Backs)