Life comes at you fast, Gators.
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart has named former Florida secondary coach Charlton Warren as the Bulldogs’ defensive backs coach after crossing paths with him earlier this week.
“Charlton is from Atlanta and has a wide range of experience coaching defensive football at several universities and conferences around the country,” Smart said in a UGA release issued Saturday.
“His entire coaching career has been on the defensive side of the ball and especially defensive backs,” Smart said. “He has developed an outstanding record and reputation in the coaching profession and he’ll bring great knowledge and energy to our staff.”
Warren is also considered a top recruiter. Warren was previously competing with Georgia for the services of Kaiir Elam, the 2019 class’ No. 7 cornerback.
Elam is believed to have narrowed his choices to the Bulldogs and the Gator. Elam was in Athens on Saturday on his official visit.
I’m sure that’s a complete coincidence.
Needless to say, this is going over less well in certain quarters…
… than in others.
It’s an interesting move on a number of levels. There’s no way I think Kirby hired him to get a leg up on the Elam recruiting, but I’d be crazy to think there isn’t a little glee over the side benefit on that front. That said, it hasn’t been a good week for Dan Mullen, as he’s gotten tag-teamed by Saban and Smart.
Bad feelings aside — not that there’s anything wrong with that — it sounds like a solid hire. Warren is respected as both a recruiter and a position coach. He did some good work in his only season in Gainesville.
Florida hired Warren after the Tennessee staff dissolved following the 2017 firing of Butch Jones.
The Gators defense made considerable improvement with Warren on board last season.
Florida went from being tied for 81s in the nation in takeways (17) to tied for 11h (26).
The Gators’ pass efficiency defense also picked up, ranking 17th in the nation…
It’s also a continuation of one offseason theme. Georgia’s staff is getting noticeably younger/less experienced. I’m sure that doesn’t hurt on the ol’ recruiting trail; it remains to be seen if there’s an effect on the Xs and Os.
And in the duh department, it looks like Kirby will be promoting internally on the coordinator front. I’m sure McGarity doesn’t mind an occasional bout of frugality here and there, especially when you figure there’s a chance that the o-line coach may be about to become the highest paid (or close to the highest paid) position coach in the country.
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