Looking At Brent Key's First Coaching Staff After Yesterday's Hires

Brent Key has completed his first coaching staff as the head coach

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Jan 5, 2023 4:16 PM EST

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key has finally completed his first staff.

Yesterday, there was a flurry of coaching news that started with the report that defensive line coaches Larry Knight and David Turner would not be returning to the program, which came as a bit of a surprise. Key did not waste time in finding a replacement for the open position and he brought a familiar face back to Atlanta to coach the defensive line.

Marco Coleman, a former Georgia Tech player and a coach from 2019-2021 before leaving for Michigan State, is back on The Flats. This was a pretty big get for Key and Coleman will be in charge of developing and recruiting the Yellow Jackets and helping them to become one of the best defensive lines in the ACC.

The other big move that Key made on Wednesday was the hiring of Kevin Sherrer as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. With this move, Jason Semore is now going to be the special teams coordinator.

Sherrer was most recently with the New York Giants (2020-2021) as the linebackers coach, but he has been coaching for some time. He was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Tennessee (2018-2019), the outside linebackers coach at Georgia (2014-2017), and the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at South Alabama (2013). Sherrer also served as the director of player personnel at Alabama under Nick Saban. He has extensive experience as a high school coach as well. He played at the University of Alabama from 1993-1995.

With those hires, the staff is now complete.

On offense, Key brought in Georgia quality control analyst and former Southern Miss and MTSU offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner in to call plays and coach tight ends. Georgia quarterback and Heisman finalist Stetson Bennett is apparently a big fan of Faulkner as well. This is from the initial report on Faulkner's hiring from FootballScoop:

"In fact, Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Stetson Bennett IV recently praised Faulkner's impact on his development at Georgia and told reporters Faulkner was among the first Georgia coaches to Bennett he could potentially win a Heisman Trophy with another season in the Bulldogs' program."

Faulkner also has a relationship with new Georgia Tech offensive line coach Geep Wade. This note is from the report by John Brice at FootballScoop:

"Faulkner also appears to be a natural fit with new Georgia Tech offensive line coach Geep Wade, who was hired over the weekend by Key away from Appalachian State. Faulker and Wade have known each other for years in the coaching community and worked closely together at MTSU a decade ago as Faulkner was the Blue Raiders' offensive coordinator and Wade their offensive line coach."

Georgia Tech also made new hires at running backs coach and wide receivers coach. Former Vanderbilt running backs coach Norval McKenzie is taking over the running back room at Georgia Tech and former Western Kentucky co-offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach Josh Crawford will be the new wide receivers coach for Tech.

The one holdover from the previous staff on offense is Chris Weinke, who will be the co-offensive coordinator, as well as the quarterback's coach for Georgia Tech. On defense, Travares Tillman will return as the defensive backs coach.

Semore will now take over as the special teams coordinator.