Getting to Know Jahmile Addae

Getting to know Georgia’s new defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae.

Jahmile Addae was officially brought on staff Wednesday morning, coming to the Bulldogs from West Virginia where he coached the secondary for two seasons. His first year with the Mountaineers was as an assistant, and he coached the cornerbacks in 2020.

Addae, a WVU alumnus, played for the Mountaineers from 2001-2005, during which he cemented himself as one of the best defensive backs in program history. Following his collegiate career, Addae went undrafted and spent the better part of two years bouncing around NFL teams. His brother Jahleel has been an NFL safety since 2013 and played for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020.

Addae then returned to his alma mater as a grad assistant and worked for West Virginia and Michigan before getting his first coaching job as a running backs coach for Cincinnati. He spent two seasons with the Bearcats before joining the Arizona staff, first as a defensive analyst and then as a cornerbacks coach.

He was then the cornerbacks coach at Minnesota before returning to West Virginia for the last two seasons.

At West Virginia, Addae developed a reputation as an elite coach and developer of talent, getting an under-manned group last year to be the best pass defense in the country. It cannot be understated how impressive doing this was, especially in the Big-12 where offenses pass at the highest rate of any conference in the country and typically do so very successfully.

Many around Addae expect him to eventually become a head coach at some point. He checks every box and by all accounts will work hard enough to make it happen.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart likely hired Addae because he sees a lot of himself in him. Both excel at coaching defense, specifically defensive backs, and talk about the game in the same way. When you watch a Smart or Addae press conference, a lot of the same terms are thrown around: “gap sound” or “eleven hats on eleven hats” or “playing football in a phone booth” and various other forms of coach speak.

Time will tell how this hire actually pans out, but at the moment Dawg Nation has reason to be excited about the new man in Athens.

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