If you hadn’t heard, three Georgia players have transferred to Nebraska in the past month — tight end Arik Gilbert, outside linebacker MJ Sherman and offensive lineman Jacob Hood. Evidently, the pipeline runs between Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule and Georgia secondary coach Fran Brown, who have a long history together.
Rhule recruited the Camden, N.J., native to Western Carolina in 2003 where the cornerback was a standout punt returner for the then special teams coach. Brown was on the support staff at Temple when Rhule was there and then got his first full-time college coaching job as defensive backs coach with the Owls under Rhule in 2013 and worked with him for six seasons including two at Baylor until 2018.
Rhule is even the godfather of Brown’s son, Fran Jr., who is finishing up his senior year of high school in Medford, N.J.
Makes it handy to get the inside scoop on kids when their names pop up in the portal.
“As guys were going in, ‘Hey, coach this is a guy who fits you,” Rhule said Wednesday at a signing day press conference in Lincoln. “He kind of knows who I am and the way I want to do things, the process we want to have, the character of the guys that we want, the work ethic. He was able to tell me about them and then also tell them about us and what we’re doing here and then kind of let us recruit from there.”
Works for me. Every player who leaves Athens for Lincoln is one less player who might otherwise wind up at Tech or an SEC program.
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