David Salmon is entering his second year as an Assistant Football Coach at Emory & Henry University where he works with the wide receivers.

In his first season with the Wasps, Cam Abshire was as an All-South Atlantic Conference First Team as well as an Associated Press Second Team All-American. Abshire totaled 51 catches for 1,057 yards and 13 touchdowns. Wide receiver Cam Peoples was also selected to the SAC All-Mountain Division with 52 catches for 766 yards and seven touchdowns, totaling over 1,000 all-purpose yards. The Wasps finished the 2024 season 9-2.

Most recently, he served as a Player Personnel analyst at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to UNC, Salmon was the Quarterbacks Coach/Video Coordinator at Mercer University from 2022 to 2023. 

Coach Salmon was a part of the 2023 Mercer team that finished the season ranked 17th in the country and earned the first playoff appearance in school history making it to the NCAA Division I FCS Playoffs Second Round. He oversaw quarterback Carter Peevy finish the season with 23 total touchdowns finishing third in school history for rushing touchdowns in a season with 12.

During the 2022 season, Salmon oversaw quarterback Fred Payton achieve the new program record for single-season passing yards in November with one game still to play in the season. He finished with 3,019 passing yards on the year and averaged 274.5 passing yards per game. Payton threw 32 touchdowns, including a long of 90 against Morehead State in week one. His 32 touchdowns set a new program record for passing touchdowns in a season, surpassing the previous record of 24. With five touchdown passes against ETSU, Payton also set the school record for most touchdown passes in a single game. Payton led the Southern Conference in passing efficiency, passing yards per game, and total offense. He was third in the FCS for passing efficiency. Payton was named to the All-Southern Conference Second Team.

Salmon began his career in 2018 at Mars Hill University coaching the quarterbacks in his first year as Graduate Assistant. During the 2018 season, he saw quarterback Austin Brown to a All-SAC First Team selection. He then spent three seasons at Mercer as an offensive quality control assistant working with the quarterbacks. In his final semester in Macon, Salmon saw Carter Peevy named as the SoCon Offensive Freshman of the Year.

In 2021, he returned to Mars Hill to lead the team’s receiving corps. In his first year, the Lions went 8-3 and Salmon saw senior wide receiver CJ Thompson selected to the All-SAC First Team.

Salmon is a native of Apex, North Carolina, and graduated from Campbell University in 2016 with a degree in Political Science Pre-Law. He completed his master’s degree from Mars Hill University in 2018 with a degree in Management. Salmon played quarterback for three seasons at Campbell University before transferring to Mars Hill University to finish out his playing career. In 2017 at Mars Hill, Salmon was named to the All-SAC Second Team and was a third-team all-region pick.

-4/25/2025