List of Friday Night Lights Characters - Recurring Characters

Recurring Characters

• Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) - Owner of a popular Chevrolet dealership in town, father of Lyla Garrity, and an influential Dillon High booster. He ends up having an affair with Angela Collette, Tyra's mom, which causes stress with his family and results in a divorce. Buddy is based on John Aubrey, a character Leland himself played in the film. Having been ousted from the Panthers booster club by JD McCoy's father, Garrity denounces his allegiance to the Panthers and joins the Lions instead, becoming instrumental in providing sponsors, including a weekly radio show at a local station. Buddy sells his dealership and opens a bar in East Dillon in Season 4, and in Season 5 his ex-wife Pam sends his son, Buddy Jr. to live with him when he begins acting out.
• Billy Riggins (Derek Phillips) — Older brother to Tim Riggins, acts as his guardian. Could have had a potential scholarship for golf, but gave it up to take care of Tim. Married Mindy Colette at the end of Season 3. In Season 4, after increasing pressure from a pregnant Mindy and himself to provide for his family, he opens a chop shop to make ends meet. When Tim takes the fall for him, he becomes a coach at East Dillon and helps take care of Becky Sproles while Tim is in jail. In Season 5, he and Mindy find out they have twins on the way. In the finale, he is shown coaching for the new Dillon Panther super-team.
• Lorraine “Grandma” Saracen (Louanne Stephens) — Grandmother to Matt Saracen, she often requires special care from Matt. She suffers from dementia. She acts as a motherly figure in Matt's life since his father is never around.
• Shelby Saracen (Kim Dickens) — Mother of Matt Saracen, she was largely absent throughout Matt's life, until his struggles with his grandmother forced him to seek her out, so that she could sign papers to legally emancipate him. She ends up staying in Dillon with Matt and his grandmother, though it takes some time for Lorraine to accept her help.
• Mindy Collette/Riggins (Stacey Oristano) - Hard-edged sister to Tyra Collette and Billy Riggin's wife, Mindy works as a stripper at a local roadhouse, The Landing Strip. Unlike Tyra, she fully embraces a trashy image and reputation. Initially a minor character, as the series developed the character was more heavily featured, especially in the last two seasons where she was further fleshed out and revealed to have rather strong, underlying empathetic qualities. A mother figure to Becky, she and Billy have their own son, Stevie, and are expecting twins in Season 5.
• Corrina “Mama” Williams (Liz Mikel) — Mother to “Smash” Williams. She found the steroids in his room and went to Coach Taylor about it, briefly putting his career in doubt. Works in town as a nurse, and was the one to tell Tami Taylor she was pregnant at the end of Season 1. She supports Smash's football aspirations but also keeps him grounded, encouraging him to consider his education in addition to a potential pro career.
• Mac MacGill (Blue Deckert) — Offensive coordinator for the Dillon Panthers. There is initially tension between him and Eric, as he assumed the head coaching position would be his before Eric was hired. Caused the black players on the team to walk off the team in the week leading up to a playoff game in Season 1 after making racist comments. Later defended Smash after the rival team's police tried to arrest him for starting a brawl in the game. In Season 3, he suffers a heart attack and takes a leave of absence from coaching, and is replaced by future coach Wade Aikman. In Season 4, Coach Taylor offered him a job at East Dillon, but Mac turned him down. In Season 5, MacGill has succeeded Aikman as the head coach of the Dillon Panthers.
• Chad Clarke (Glenn Morshower) - Father of Landry Clarke, and police sergeant for the Dillon Police Department. Tries to protect Landry when he gets into trouble in Season 2.
• Herc (Kevin Rankin) — Athlete with the same injury as Jason Street, he's Jason's roommate in the rehab center after his accident. He takes Jason under his wing and gets him interested in quad rugby. They later become roommates and go in on a real estate venture together before Jason leaves for the northeast.
• Jackie Miller (Brooke Langton) - Single mother to Bo Miller with a predilection for younger men. She sleeps with Tim and then Billy Riggins, causing a temporary rift between the brothers.
• Waverly Grady (Aasha Davis) — The preacher's daughter and one-time girlfriend to “Smash” Williams. Her bipolar disorder eventually leads to the end of their relationship.
• Ray “Voodoo” Tatum (Aldis Hodge) — Louisiana resident (displaced by Hurricane Katrina) and Panther quarterback for two weeks after being brought to town by Buddy Garrity to replace Jason Street. The Panthers end up having to forfeit the game he led them to win after it is discovered he was not eligible to play for them. The Dillon Panthers meet him again in the State Final at the end of Season 1.
• Angela Collette (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) — Mother of Tyra Collette and former mistress to Buddy Garrity. She ends up having an affair with Buddy, ultimately destroying his family life.
• Santiago Herrera (Benny Ciaramello) — Befriends Lyla Garrity after getting out of juvy. Buddy Garrity gives him a job and a place to stay and Santiago joins the football team. (Season 2)
• Tony Dolia (Charon R. Arnold) — Panther Player #1, never shown outside of uniform but often highlighted during game play. He has been instrumental in several of the Panther’s on-field victories. Such as catching the winning TD pass from Saracen in the Pilot. He also blocked a punt in Nevermind to set up the winning touchdown drive led by Panther backup quarterback Matt Saracen. He is showed in some deleted scenes and is interviewed in Eyes Wide Open deleted scene.
• J.D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) — A very talented quarterback who joins the varsity team as a freshman and eventually replaces Matt Saracen as the starter. He has trouble relating to his older teammates who don't share his straight-laced habits. In the fifth season it is revealed during the East Dillon/Dillon game that he is no longer the starting QB of the Panthers, even though at this point, he would be a Junior.
• Henry Saracen (Brent Smiga)- The father of Matt Saracen who was divorced from Matt's mother when Matt was young. He enlisted in the US Army and served in Iraq. He served for twenty years, missing much of Matt's life. The character is killed off by an IED in Iraq at the end of Episode 4 of Season 4, "A Sort of Homecoming;" Episode 5, "The Son" deals with Matt's reaction to his father's death. Matt's feelings of anger toward his father are revealed and the best thing he can say at his father's funeral is that he served his country well.
• Buddy Garrity Jr.(Jeff Rosick and Joey Truty)- son of Buddy Garrity and brother to Lyla Garrity, Buddy starts off as just a little kid, but after moving to California starts to act out and disrespect authority causing him to move back to Texas with Buddy. He eventually joins the East Dillon Lions to get straightened out.
• Dallas Tinker (LaMarcus Tinker) - An East Dillon Lion known to his teammates by his last name, Tinker is part of a core group of players including Vince Howard, Luke Cafferty, Hastings Ruckle and Buddy Garrity, Jr. Tinker once helped Luke mend a fence on his parents' farm when no one else showed up; in Season 5, he trades "his" rally girl, Becky, to Luke in exchange for Luke's prize pig.
• Regina Howard (Angela Rawna) - Vince Howard's mother, a former drug addict. After her son gets her into rehab, she is determined to turn her life around.
• Matt Riggins (Teddy Tala)- Uncredited East Dillon Lions Running Back and Wide Receiver who is cousin to Billy Riggins and Tim Riggins
• Sheila Williams (Whitney MCCauley)- Sister to Smash Williams
• Noannie Williams (Nieko Mann)- Sister to Smash Williams
• Gracie Bell Taylor (Madilyn Landry) Daughter of Eric Taylor and Tami Taylor