UGA Hires DB Coach from USC

Donte Williams is a Dawg

UGA HIRES DB COACH FROM USC – So far this offseason, UGA has only lost one position coach: Fran Brown. Brown, who UGA hired from Rutgers, was always a star in the making.

He told recruits that he came to UGA to learn and would leave when he was offered a head coaching job. When Syracuse came calling, Brown said yes.

He’s taken a few Dawgs with him such as WR Mekhi Mews, and WR Zeed Haynes. 

Brown was known as an excellent recruiter and a solid coach. Although Kirby and Will Muschamp do most of the secondary coaching, Brown’s role was crucial to this team.

A number of Georgia’s key players in this year’s class, including 5-star safety KJ Bolen, are headed to Athens because of him. Bolden took a visit to Syracuse without any intent on committing there, but to spend time with Brown.

Coach Brown still pushed him towards UGA to be developed and it helped sway Bolden to flip from FSU to UGA and stay away from a late push from Auburn. 

So How Did UGA Replace Him? With Donte Williams.

Yeah, I had never heard of him either. And if you’re like me, you saw he came from Southern Cal, remembered their defense is atrocious, and immediately became concerned.

USC hasn’t exactly stopped, well, anyone, on defense lately so why would UGA hire him? 

He’s probably not the same caliber of coach as Fran Brown was. Brown was a rising star. Williams does however possess the same impeccable ability to recruit and build relationships.

While his coaching has to be good enough to hang with Kirby and Boom, they can still manage the heavy lifting with teaching systems and techniques to DBs.

Williams’ will need to continue to be an ace recruiter for the Dawgs. He boasts being a key recruiter on six different 5 star players in his career, a feat few coaches across the country can claim.

UGA’s current batch of DB recruits immediately bought in to what he was selling and none of them waivered in their commitment.

Many of these recruits echoed the idea that Dawg fans should take. In essence, we trust Kirby to hire someone great, so we’re cool with his choice. 

Salary

Williams will make a nice $825,000 at UGA. He spent 4 years at USC, and had stints at Oregon, Nebraska, and Washington before.

He was even named the interim head coach after Clay Helton (remember that guy? Yeah I forgot about him too) was fired. He went 3-7 in that role. 

A couple of key USC players have hit the portal since Williams’ departure including receiver WR Mario Williams and DB Domani Jackson.

While I don’t expect either to come to UGA, it also wouldn’t shock me given that UGA is looking for at least one more receiver and might need a DB if Julian Humphrey hits the portal. 

At the end of the day, I think UGA fans should rest easy. We got a great recruiter and Kirby can help him become a solid coach if he’s not one already. The Dawgs may not be better after losing Fran Brown, but they likely won’t take much of a step backwards.