Arkansas Pulls Fernando Velasco off Georgia Staff

Fernando Velasco has been the assitant director of player development, and today he has announced he would be headed to Arkansas to be the director of player development for the Razorbacks.

After going undrafted out of the University of Georgia in 2008, Fernando Velasco played eight seasons in the NFL for six different NFL organizations. He then made his return to Athens following his retirement. 

Now, after three years as the Assistant Director of Player Development, Velasco announced today that he would be taking an upgrade at Arkansas. He announced on social media today that he would be joining Sam Pittman's staff as the Director of Player Development. 

In the statement, Velasco thanked head coach Kirby Smart and the Unversity saying, "Thank you Coach Smart and everyone who makes the UGA program possible. This place is special and leaving is bittersweet but I know because of Georgia, I'm prepared for what's next." 

Velasco built relationships with several highly touted recruits during his time at Georgia and most recently played a pivotal role in landing five-star offensive tackle, Broderick Jones. 

This is the second assistant Sam Pittman has pulled off of the Georgia football staff since his departure to take the head coaching job at Arkansas. Scott Fountain left the UGA staff to take the special teams coordinator position with the Hogs.

As of now, it is unclear how Kirby Smart and his staff will elect to fill the now open position with Velasco heading off to Arkansas. We will keep you posted on any further information on that front.  

One thing history tells us however is that Smart has shown the ability to identify quality replacements and in a hurry. I would imagine time is of the essence with the spring recruiting cycle set to pick up. 

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