Georgia Football: Spring Practice is a Busy Time for New Position Coaches

Georgia has four new position coaches as they enter spring practice. They'll have to juggle getting acclimated and coaching up their position groups.

Georgia has four new position coaches as they enter spring practice. They'll have to juggle getting acclimated and coaching up their position groups.

One of the consequences of building a powerhouse like Kirby Smart has at Georgia is turnover. Other programs see your success and want a piece. Every offseason, coaches from your staff will leave for promotions and new opportunities. 

Georgia has certainly gone through that this offseason, having to replace four position coaches. Two coaches, Dell McGee (Georgia State) and Fran Brown (Syracuse), are now FBS head coaches. Bryan McClendon (Buccaneers) left for an NFL job. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp decided to step back, taking an analyst role with Georgia. 

New Georgia defensive backs coach Donte Williams during his time at USC.  / © Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

All of that turnover meant Kirby Smart had to hit the recruiting trail in a new way, trying to pluck talented coaches from around the country and he did just that. Perhaps the biggest move was swiping new co-defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson away from Alabama. New Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer reportedly made a last-ditch push to retain Robinson, but he elected to come to Georgia for a hefty payday. 

Georgia snagged Donte Williams, an elite recruiter, from USC to take over for Fran Brown as defensive backs coach. They brought back James Coley to serve as wide receivers coach and then lured Josh Crawford away from rival Georgia Tech to replace McGee as running backs coach.

"The first thing we do when we hire coaches [is] get them all the names and numbers of their current players and their parents and try to get them to reach out to their players so they can get to know them," said Smart in a recent interview with CBS Sports. "It's a very volatile time in college football. So the kids on the roster want to know who their new coach is. That's the first thing you do; take care of home. 'What's. Important. Now.' is an acronym we have here, W.I.N., what's important now is [to] get to know your players, get to know the prospects at your position. Okay, what about the offense? We're in the middle of installation. We're doing walkthroughs each day. So what do you know about the offense? How fast can you learn it? How fast can you learn about the guys at your position in 2025, 2026? So it's a light drinking water through a fire hose for those new coaches. But we have tremendous support staff here."

The new coaches have a lot of work ahead of them, but, as Smart mentioned, Georgia has one of the more elite programs in the country. That includes an incredible support staff. This spring should tell us a lot about how they're progressing. 

Other Georgia News:

• WATCH: Georgia Running Back Kendall Milton Talks NFL Combine Process
• Daijun Edwards Talks Journey at Georgia, Being Coached by Dell McGee
• Jermaine Burton Talks Georgia vs Alabama, Time as a Bulldog

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