Bruce Feldman’s 15 coordinators to watch this fall…

… has Georgia’s defensive coordinator at number two on the list ($$).

2. Dan Lanning, Georgia defensive coordinator

The former William Jewell College linebacker has rocketed up the coaching ranks. Lanning was a graduate assistant at Pitt, Arizona State and Alabama, and at 34 had a strong debut season as Kirby Smart’s defensive coordinator in 2019, when the Bulldogs led the SEC in total defense. People with knowledge of the matter say he blew Memphis brass away and made a strong run at getting the Tigers’ head coaching vacancy. The hunch here is he will have his own program in the not-too-distant future. Lanning figures to have a dominant defense in 2020.

The Dawgs do have to replace strong safety J.R. Reed and Tae Crowder, but two highly touted sophomores, big-hitting Lewis Cine and Nakobe Dean, are expected to jump into those roles. Dean, who will bring even more speed to the Georgia defense, will line up next to standout Monte Rice (89 tackles) in the middle of a unit that is loaded at all three levels. Senior Richard LeCounte (four INTs) headlines what should be a terrific secondary that has some really long corners.

That sounds pretty Dawg porn-y to me.

“But,” you say, “what about Todd Monken?  Where is he on Feldman’s list?”

He’s not.  Kinda sounds like there’s a good reason for that, though.

Georgia should be a legit national title contender in 2020 if its offense can step up. (We’ll have more on new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and that side of the ball later in the week.)

Tell us more, Bruce…