Georgia football: Who will be defensive coordinator?

Georgia football has yet to announce their defensive coordinator. When they finally do, who is going to fill Mel Tucker’s shoes?

I’m not sure there is a better accumulator of young coaching talent than Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart. Don’t believe me? Look no further than his recent coaching hires. I didn’t actually know who Todd Hartley was a couple of weeks ago. Then all of a sudden, UGA loses Jim Chaney and Kirby brings back a guy that already looks like a serious talent. As a young coach, Hatley reeled in the best tight end in the entire country in the 2018 class in Brevin Jordan. Jordan is from Las Vegas so to reel him in from 3000 miles away is pretty impressive, as is the fact that in his freshman season, he was actually very good.

On the defensive front, Smart finally settled on Charlton Warren, the Florida defensive backs coach after what seemed like a long search. Now having gone and looked at Warren’s background, I love the hire. Warren played college football for Air Force before spending a decade in the military. He’s now turned his attention to coaching and he really does sound like the kind of guy that you would just love to have coaching and mentoring your kid. Add in the fact that he’s from the Atlanta area and I really do think Kirby nailed this hire.

But Warren is unlikely to fully replace Mel Tucker. I can’t see Warren stepping in and being the DC in his first year in Kirby’s system. So who will be? If I was a betting man, I’d be putting my money right now on Dan Lanning. Lanning turned down the DC job at Colorado under Tucker and I can’t imagine that he would do that without some promise of a promotion at Georgia. He spoke at the Sugar Bowl and everyone seems to think that he’s a superstar coach in the making.

I know that Lanning is still young, but so is everyone on this UGA staff. He’s still just 31 years old but I don’t think that will matter. He’s proven to be a demon on the recruiting trail, bringing in Nolan Smith and Nakobe Dean, two 5-star players this cycle. I think he’s going to be the guy Kirby turns to, in part because at his age, he’s likely going to be in this position for several years before any further promotions come along. Coaching continuity is really important for UGA at this time in Kirby’s program.

I also think that Glen Schumann has a chance to get a co-coordinator title from Smart as well. Schumann is known to be one of the smartest young defensive minds in football. He’s a Kirby Smart prodigy and at some point, he’s going to lead a defense of his own. But Lanning is a few years older and has more experience so for now, I think he’s the guy who is calling the plays. No matter what, Georgia’s defense is going to be in good hands under Smart. The young and hungry coaching staff he’s built pretty much guarantees that.