Candidates for Georgia's Defensive Backs Coach
Georgia football is in the market for a new defensive backs coach.
Charlton Warren accepted the Indiana defensive coordinator job Sunday. Warren was the last coach Georgia could afford to lose as the Bulldogs have to replace six defensive backs from the 2020 squad.
However, if any program can quickly replace an assistant coach, it's Georgia. Warren is far from the first assistant to leave head coach Kirby Smart's staff for a bigger job. Here are at least two candidates Smart might target:
Will Muschamp
How far has Muschamp's stock fallen? The former South Carolina head coach was fired in mid-November and has yet to accept any coaching jobs two months later. The most likely cause is that he may be taking a break from coaching. Surely he wouldn't turn down defensive coordinator jobs to become a defensive backs coach, right?
Muschamp's career as a head coach didn't go smoothly, but that shouldn't take away from how he's viewed as a defensive coach. Muschamp had great success as defensive coordinator at LSU and Texas, and he continued fielding solid defenses as a head coach.
As a defensive coordinator, Muschamp has consistently had defenses ranked in the top 15 nationally in scoring and yardage. He's a proven developer of defensive backs. Muschamp sent multiple defensive backs to the NFL Draft in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2013.
If a defensive coordinator position isn't offered to him, Georgia would be a great place for Muschamp to reset his coaching career. Under Smart, Georgia has become a head coach factory as much as it is an NFL factory. Mel Tucker, Sam Pittman, Shane Beamer, and now Charlton Warren have all left Georgia for promotions.
Plus, Muschamp played at Georgia in the early 1990s and was captain of the 1994 squad. Surprisingly, Muschamp has never coached for Georgia and wasn't even a graduate assistant. Most former Bulldogs in the college coaching ranks have at least one stop in Athens on their resume.
Nick Williams
Georgia's next defensive backs coach could come from within. Defensive graduate assistant Nick Williams is a former Georgia defensive back, though he rarely played before transferring for his senior year in 2011.
Williams is already a solid recruiter. He was instrumental in Georgia signing Lewis Cine in 2019. Cine spoke very highly of Williams before he signed. In 2018, Cine told Dawgnation that if Williams doesn't get promoted "something is wrong."
"I talk to Nick and he wants to make it somewhere" Cine said. "Move up the ranks. Really make it somewhere in this college game and this coaching thing. The thing is Nick will be recruiting his tail off and that’s what I like about Nick. You can tell he cares and that all of this means a great deal to him.”
At the time, Williams was just a student assistant. He was later promoted to graduate assistant, which is an on-field role.
Working against Williams is his lack of true coaching experience. In an offseason where Georgia needs to quickly develop defensive backs to replace six departing players, Georgia may make experience a priority. However, Williams clearly has a great rapport with the current players.
Corey Raymond
LSU has consistently churned out elite defensive back prospects over the last decade, and for the last eight seasons, that's been in part due to the excellent coaching from defensive backs coach Corey Raymond. Georgia wouldn't be the first program to explore the idea of pulling Raymond away from LSU. He's the longest-tenured position coach on staff in Baton Rouge for a reason.
It's unlikely, but we can imagine Smart reaching out.
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