The Georgia football support staff includes a former SEC head coach at two programs, a former ACC offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and specials teams coordinator and a former two-time All-American linebacker.
They and others on what previously could be considered Kirby Smart’s off-field staff are now able to coach at practice and during games under NCAA changes allowing unlimited coaches at practice and games that was approved this summer.
“We’ll use more coaches now and have the ability to maybe move some coaches around,” Smart said Thursday about three hours before the Bulldogs’ first preseason practice. “If you got one drill going on, you’ve got another person that is an allowable coach that maybe has really good experience coaching or knows our system to be an extra set of eyes, ears in coaching. We’re excited about that.”
Georgia’s support staff includes:
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Will Muschamp, defensive analyst. The former South Carolina and Florida head coach served as co-defensive coordinator the last two seasons.
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Brandon Streeter, offensive analyst. The former Clemson offensive coordinator is in his second season at Georgia. He was on staff at Clemson as quarterbacks coach since 2015.
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Andrew Thacker, assistant quality control for defense. The former Georgia Tech defensive coordinator from 2019 to October 2023 recently joined the Bulldogs staff.
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Kirk Benedict, special teams coordinator. Benedict had the title special teams analyst the last two seasons. Benedict was special teams coordinator at Duke from 2014-2021.
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Jarvis Jones, player connection coordinator. The All-American outside linebacker in 2011 and 2012 still owns the single-season sack record of 14 ½. He rejoined the program in 2019 as a student assistant after playing four NFL seasons with the Steelers.
The NCAA changes now allow “any staff member to provide technical and tactical instruction,” to players during practice and games. That includes analysts and quality control coaches.
At Thursday’s practice, Streeter was more hands-on during a drill with the tight ends. Jones was one at least four coaches working with the defensive line as they hit pads.
Smart said now during special teams practice periods, “people on the outside now may be able to do special teams and free our coaches up to give a little time to guys that aren’t in like skill development. A guy can go over there and work on things he needs to work on and not lose time. It’s helpful organizationally to do that.”
FBS programs are still limited to 11 staff members (including the head coach) being permitted to recruit off campus.
“NCAA members continue efforts to modernize support for student-athletes, and removing restrictions on skill instruction in football will provide those student-athletes with increased resources to achieve their greatest on-field potential,” Josh Whitman, chair of the council and AD at Illinois, said in an NCAA release.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How NCAA rule change on staff coaching in practice affects UGA football
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