Georgia football has been national champs for almost a week now, and with all the success comes some coaching turnover.
There have been rumors circling offensive coordinator Todd Monken and wideouts coach Cortez Hankton about them heading other places.
The Monken news seems to have less traction than the Hankton one as 247Sports reports that he is taking the wide receiver coaching job at LSU. Hankton is a Louisana native, so it would be understandable to see him return home and contribute to the Bayou Bengals staff.
Georgia football is looking for a new wideouts coach, and these five would be the first guys to call.
With Hankton leaving, the Dawgs will need to find a new wide receiver coach, and they could promote from within or find another talented coach. However, the coach head coach Kirby Smart targets will have to be a talented recruiter on top of being able to jump in and buy into his culture.
Some names circling the fan base are Hines Ward, of course, and while he could be a big hit, there seem to be other names out there that could elevate the Dawgs even more. Ward is an option, and it wouldn’t be surprising, but this list focused on others outside Ward being the most obvious choice from the fans.
Indiana’s Grant Heard has ties to the staff with Matt Luke, which is another name Georgia could look at for this position.
Joe Brady is another big name the Bulldogs could target, but it’s extremely unlikely.
Other names that aren’t likely to make Smart’s desk but could be strong coaches are Ohio State’s, Brian Hartline. While he is a Buckeye alumnus, he is the highest-ranked 247Sports wide receiver recruiter. Dameyune Craig out of Texas A&M is a decent recruiter, but I don’t think he would ever come to Athens.
There are so many talented coaches out there, but these are a few the Dawgs could consider but have stronger options. Oklahoma State’s wideouts coach Kasey Dunn is another name. Holman Wiggins, the Alabama wide receiver coach, is underpaid for where he is, Georgia could target him, but it isn’t very likely.
The Dawgs used their wideouts a lot this season, and they were a big reason Georgia won the national championship this season as the passing game had a little more emphasis. Hankton had a room full of talented wideouts the Dawgs targeted all season.
Georgia is moving toward using these playmakers more as they want to be more explosive offensively, so whoever they hire needs to be able to match this, which most wideout coaches are for that anyway, but this hire needs to be a good one.
The Dawgs need someone who wants to help evolve the offense and help make it better. There are some elite receivers out there, and Georgia continues to miss out on them because they aren’t a primarily passing offense, but maybe this hire could be the first step in the evolution process.
This hire could be the beginning point of Georgia evolving its offense to the next level. It could be one of Smart’s most significant hires yet.
We’ve included a couple of different scenarios and a few new coaching names the Dawgs should target when replacing Hankton.