Is Dell McGee the best positional coach in college football?

If eyebrows were raised last season when Georgia football made coach Dell McGee the highest-paid running backs coach in college football, then today, those skeptics think this move was shrewd business from head coach Kirby Smart.

While a salary raise and contract extension were not enough to keep former defensive coordinator Dan Lanning from moving to Oregon to become the Ducks, new head coach, it kept McGee around. Now he has proven why he is the best assistant coach in the country.

With the National Championship trophy back in Athens, McGee’s position on the Bulldogs staff is becoming more and more vital to the development of the Dawgs offense.

Georgia football has the best position coach in Dell McGee, and there isn’t an argument.

There is no question that McGee is one of, if not the best recruiter in college football. New Georgia football signee, running back Andrew Paul’s comments this week were telling and spoke of how integral McGee was to Paul coming to Athens.

"Dell McGee is one of the greatest coaches alive,” Paul told 247Sports. “So you want to be coached by the best”."

McGee’s track record of signing and developing running backs is impressive. The conveyor belt of talented backs under McGee has been second to none — he signed both D’Andre Swift and Zamir White and developed Nick Chubb and Sony Michel into NFL prospects.

Chubb and Michel would finish their Georgia careers with the second and third most rushing yards in Dawg history. Continuing this trend, White and James Cook are soon to continue the conveyor belt of playing their football on Sundays.

McGee has been instrumental in bringing on the current crop of running back talent — Kendall Milton, Kenny McIntosh and Daijun Edwards. Georgia fans will be looking forward to seeing a fit, Milton, who missed half the 2021 season but was able to return for the playoff games.

Milton will provide much-needed experience given that Cook and White have now left for the NFL. McIntosh has also come on strong in 2021 and will give the Dawgs the second running back to have enough experience to take over most of the reps.

New signings Paul and Branson Robinson add an exciting dynamic to the Dawgs running game.

Paul, in particular, looks to be a great addition to the roster, which some think could be Georgia football’s steal of the 2022 recruiting class.

McGee played his collegiate football with the Auburn Tigers and was featured during the Tigers’ unbeaten 1993 season. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals and via the NFL Europe League, latterly played for the Detroit Lions.

After his playing career, McGee coached high school football in the state of Georgia for 10 years before returning to his Alma Mater to kick start his collegiate coaching career.

As an analyst at Auburn, McGee was on the staff during the Tigers’ SEC Championship-winning side in 2013. He quickly moved to Georgia Southern as running backs coach.

By 2014 McGee had become Associate Head Coach and, before joining Georgia, led Georgia Southern to their first bowl victory as interim head coach.

McGee arrived in Athens in 2016 to serve as an assistant coach overseeing the running backs for two seasons, then was the assistant head coach, and his latest position change came in 2019 as he is the run-game coordinator and running backs coach in 2019.

During the six seasons that McGee has coached in Athens, he coached four 1,000-yard season rushers — Chubb, Michel, Swift and Elijah Holyfield.

His time at Georgia has dovetailed with arguably the best period in Bulldogs history. As well as 2021’s National Championship victory, the Dawgs have had three successive seasons with 11 or more wins, winning three consecutive SEC East titles with four straight New Year’s Six Bowls.

With the National Championship trophy now taking place in the Butts-Mehre facility and a rolling program of NFL caliber running backs, the question has an answer — McGee is the best positional coach in college football.