Georgia football has a staff full of up-and-coming assistants that will be a part of the next set of great college coaches, but there are two that continue to fly under the radar for the Dawgs.
Sure there was Dan Lanning who left to take the Oregon job, and there are the ones we all immediately talk about in Glenn Schumann, Will Muschamp, Todd Monken and Dell McGee.
However, there are two areas the Dawgs have improved this season with their defensive front, and then there is the secondary recruiting and development that has happened. Those two areas are two of the most important.
Georgia football has two assistants who fly under the radar but develop like madmen.
Defensive line coach Tray Scott and defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae are the two assistant coaches the Dawgs cannot lose right now. Georgia must find a way to keep those two employed in Athens at all costs because they are doing big things for the Dawgs.
Scott developed Jordan Davis into the player he is today after bringing him in as a 3-star. He has also done a tremendous job developing DeVonte Wyatt from likely not getting drafted to possibly a second-round guy.
Jalen Carter is another guy he is working hard to turn into a better and quicker version of Davis and the plug for next year’s defense. Scott is kicking butt and taking names on the recruiting trail too. He landed Bear Alexander and five-star Mykel Williams for the 2022 class, two crucial pieces to the puzzle for Georgia moving forward.
We’ve used this term this week, but Scott is an evil genius, but no one knows it yet. He is going to be one of the best in the business as long as he continues on this path.
Scott needs a raise and something to keep him in Athens. Smart knows how good Scott is for the team, and hopefully, he will stick around Athens long enough to leave a lasting impact.
Many fans were unsure about him when Smart made the hire, but Scott continues to prove himself, and he is a big reason the front seven has been so dominant. Once he got his guys into the program, the defensive line has grown and has no ceiling.
Addae has been a force since arriving in Athens last year. He has exploded onto the scene, and the Dawgs need to give him a massive raise.
Smart is a former defensive back, so he is extremely particular about who Georgia recruits back there, and Addae took that challenge and demolished it.
Shout out to my guy @BobbyBarham_UGA for some Elite work within this recruiting cycle... dude is stone cold- a real Dawg on the trail💯🐶🔒 #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/AzjKqDnxsh
— Jahmile Addae (@Coach_Addae) December 16, 2021
He is now the No.2 overall recruiter on 247Sports recruiter rankings after being the guy in charge of landing 5-star Marvin Jones Jr. While he isn’t a defensive back, he fought off Alabama, FSU and USC for Jones’ commitment and got it.
Not to mention, Addae was the primary recruiter for 5-star cornerback Jaheim Singletary, 5-star cornerback Daylen Everette, 4-star cornerback Julian Humphrey and 4-star safety JaCorey Thomas.
He is a big reason Georgia signed their best defensive back class ever, and now he gets to develop those guys. Addae was also in on the Malaki Starks recruitment as well. It seemed like he was everywhere on the recruiting trail, which tells us Smart trusts him to get the job done.
That job is just what he did on the recruiting trail. Addae has also done a tremendous job developing a depleted secondary into one of the nation’s best pass defenses.
He is a big contributor to developing Kelee Ringo, and Lewis Cine has gotten so much better in the last two seasons, so one must think Addae had something to do with that as well.
Now he has a group full of talented defensive backs, and it’s like a kid in a candy store. Addae is about to have a hay day putting together one of the strongest secondaries ever constructed.
He is a coach that can do it too, plus when Smart trusts a coach the way it seems like he does with Addae, it allows them to put their mark on it while also sticking with Smart’s culture plan.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Dawgs gave him a raise and Addae stuck around Athens for a while.
These two Georgia football assistants are two of the most significant puzzle pieces for keeping that defense elite. Especially now that the secondary has a little more depth and the talent level is sky-high.
All of the Dawgs’ staffers deserve raises, from the lowest man on the totem pole to the main coordinators, but Scott and Addae need something special to keep them in Athens. Those two are Georgia’s aces in the hole and will keep the Dawgs in contention each year.