This al.com piece about the top up-and-coming SEC assistants under the age of 40 who aren’t already coordinators caught my eye on Twitter because the first name on the list was none other than Joe “but I decided to throw it anyway” Cox, but here’s the one that’s gonna drive some of y’all crazy:
Cortez Hankton, Georgia wide receivers coach
The son of two New Orleans police officers, the 39-year old Hankton is an ex-NFL wide receiver who joined the Georgia staff in 2018 after three seasons as the wide receivers coach at Vanderbilt (2015-17) and three as the wide receivers coach at Dartmouth (2012-14). A high-ranking NFL staff member was extremely complimentary of Hankton and said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Hankton land an offensive coordinator job in the near future.
Try to be gentle in the comments.
To be fair, I’m not ready to pass final judgment on the man based on last season. Let’s see what develops under Monken first. Besides, Hankton’s been killing it on the recruiting trail and you know what that means to his boss.
Get The Picture 
He’s a big-time recruiter. Enough said.
On his coaching job, he lost a bunch of talent including Holloman. He lost the guy who was arguably the difference maker in the offense last year in Cager. By the end of the year, Pickens was more than just a raw, 5-star freshman.
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True, ee. Plus, he lost a starter for several games to injury in the season opener.
A frequent criticism on this blog is that his immediate boss didn’t design plays that get Hankton’s guys open.
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Yep, I didn’t think about Kearis Jackson. Who knew Tyler Simmons was going to go from steady hands to stone hands (and face mask)?
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My only knock is that I saw too many rounded off routes where the defenders came out of their back pedal too easily. As for coordinator material, who knows?
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Stating the obvious but we are living on too many transfers for both WRs & TEs. Kirby wound up with an empty cupboard for both position groups last year. There was a Portal Master post about that kind of life – it eventually catches up to coaches- see USCe Athens 2019. Lots of hope riding on Monken/Newman to pull it off.
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In lieu of substance, the author believes his bona fides include:
“The son of two New Orleans police officers…”
I have no idea how that plays into his coaching acumen. But, an NFL staff member was complimentary, so he must be the next Lincoln Riley.
I don’t know anything about his coaching acumen, but I find those two tidbits less insightful than most commenters on GTP.
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After reading the article I wonder what kind of dirt the ginger Ninja has on Bobo.
Was last season Hankton’s first with UGA?
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According to his track record, he will be with UGA two years and then he’s on the move….
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Um, I’m hard pressed to find Hankton success stories, other than recruiting – and how much of that should be attributed to Kirby and Coley?
Question: Does ANYONE want Hankton to continue as passing game coordinator?
Pickens was snatching balls all over camp the minute he arrived. Cager was a grad from Miami. Does Hankton get credit for simply putting those players on the field? Jackson and Blaylock had some limited success, but nothing to write home about.
Simmons, Landers, and even DRob have struggled. Bush?, Blount? Tongue? Cook? Somebody show me some success stories.
Coordinator?! It’s closer to the truth to say Hankton is lucky to have a coaching job.
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That might be a little harsh. I think the Coley effect can’t be understated. Who was the WR coach until Feb 2018 and what did he leave stocked? Feb 19 CCH had signed 2 top WRs. Feb 20 we signed 3 top 100 WRs. The passing game can’t be laid totally at his feet when you have an OC in a run early, run often scheme that doesn’t use play action for the first half of the season who also happens to coach the QBs — and we have reviewed that stellar coaching job ad nauseam.
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Good/excellent recruiter or not, he hasn’t done a darn thing with our receivers. Aside from the offensive scheme, the receivers did not impress or intimidate at all (other than Pickens and Cager).
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His unit got worse as the season progressed and wasa big part of the reason for the completely neutered passing game. Other than the fact that none of the receivers outside of a grad transfer seemed to be able to run routes correctly and couldn’t catch clap in a whore house, he was great.
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That about sums it up.
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There were times where the WRs ran poor routes or quit instead of finding a seem, but most of UGA’s problems were connected to Fromm locking into his choice pre-snap. Who cares if Pickens runs a perfect route? Target him and he will make a play.
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Pickens’ route running steadily improved over the course of the season.
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I agree, and near the end of the season Fromm started to focus on him.
I think Hankton did a good but not great job last season. Pickens talent level reminds me of AJ Green, and we haven’t had a guy like that since AJ Green.
Sure Pickens missed part of the SEC CG, but in hindsight what he did to that GT defender was worth it.
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I was just as frustrated as every other DAWG fan with the offense last year. It was quite offensive to my eyeball. On that note however, I will give him a pass due to the conditions/coordinator he was working under. If the problems continue this year, then yes, he maybe over rated. I suspect with a competent OC we will see ALL aspects of the offense improve.
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Clint Eastwood Gran Torino grimace face.
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Please teach the WRs how to run routes. If he can’t do that, give him an admin job with recruiting.
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