"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration.
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff.
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program.
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before.
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024.
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty.
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play.
Today we continue the rankings with #16 and #15. The first entries in this series have not been paywalled, but they will be as we enter the top 15. Let’s get after it…
Previous Entries
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#16 - Trevor Etienne + #15 - Josh Crawford
#14 - Daniel Harris + #13 - Donte Williams
"Who?"
That was the reaction of many when Georgia hired 40 year-old Rutgers DB coach Fran Brown to replace the departed Jahmile Addae in February of 2022. The hire ended up being one of Kirby Smart's best. Brown came with plenty of coaching ability, and he had valuable recruiting ties that strengthened Georgia's presence in the Southwest and Northeast. He served as the primary recruiter on five-star defenders like LB Justin Williams, CB Ellis Robinson IV, S Joenel Aguero and CB Demello Jones. He also landed plenty of other blue-chip DB's and used his northeastern ties to help Georgia land 4* DL Jordan Thomas (NJ), 4* OT Nyier Daniels (NJ) and 4* WR Yazeed Haynes (PA).
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any college football program, and the industry took notice of Brown's success in Athens. After just two seasons in Athens, the Camden, NJ native got the call to come back home and become the head coach at Syracuse. He reached a deal to become the new head coach of the Orange on November 28th, just before UGA's appearance in the SEC Championship game.
Georgia was wrapped up in bowl prep and its final recruiting push when it hired USC's Donte Williams to replace Brown. He was announced as the hire on December 16th, and immediately hit the ground running in Athens. Multiple sources told DawgsCentral at the time that Williams was on the phone helping to flip S KJ Bolden from Florida State within hours of accepting the job.
Can Williams Have an Outsized Impact on UGA's West Coast Recruiting?
Williams joined Clay Helton’s staff in Los Angeles prior to the 2020 season after coaching cornerbacks for Mario Cristobal at Oregon from 2018-2019.
In Williams’ first year on staff, USC went 5-1 in a Covid shortened 2020 season that meant very little in the bigger picture. Helton had been on thin ice after an 8-5 record in 2019. The 5-1 record combined with the unusual circumstances of the pandemic led to USC choosing to retain Helton, but he entered 2021 on the hot seat. The booster and fan support that remained disappeared after a 42-28 loss to Stanford in the second game of the season. Helton was dismissed with 10 games left on the 2021 schedule, and Williams was named the interim head coach.
Williams was captaining a lost ship with no rudder, but the fact he was tabbed as the interim head coach is informative to understanding his value. That role usually goes to a coach who has both the trust of other staff members and the ability to keep the locker room together. Williams was also the best recruiter on the USC staff. When Helton was fired, the hope within the athletic department was that the next head coach might retain Williams.
Why would USC want to encourage its next head coach to retain a staff member from the previous regime? Because talent acquisition is an essential part of being a successful coach on the collegiate level.
Williams had been the lead recruiter on five-star defensive lineman Korey Foreman and landed his commitment to the Trojans during his first year in Los Angeles. Foreman was the top player in California and the nation’s top ranked defensive lineman, in addition to being the second ranked recruit nationally in the 2021 class.
Two significant things happened when USC signed Foreman. The first was that a Trojans program with a lame duck head coach beat Georgia, LSU and Clemson for a player that they all badly wanted. The second was that USC won a recruitment against those Southern powers for an elite lineman.
Why is that a big deal? Here is a little context that will hopefully help explain…
Linemen Don't Grow on Trees
The population booms that have occurred around many of the South's major metropolitan areas over the last few decades have had a major impact on the SEC becoming the dominant league in college football. Good skill players are a dime a dozen. The thing that separates elite football programs from everyone else is their ability to acquire large bodies that are athletic.
California has always had great football players, but elite linemen are developing less frequently out West. If you look at the 2021 class that Foreman was part of, you can get an idea of the trend.
California had 19 players ranked within the nation’s top 225 recruits that year. Only two of those prospects were defensive linemen (Foreman was one of them). Another two of the 19 were edge rushers, but they were the #18 and #19 ranked players in the state. None of those 19 players were offensive linemen.
Of the top 11 players in the state of Georgia in that same 2021 cycle, four were linemen. UGA signed Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild and Micah Morris out of that bunch, and all three played starter level snaps at times on Georgia’s 2023 offensive line.
The 2022 class in California also produced 19 players who were ranked among the top 225 recruits nationally. OLB David Bailey was the #34 player in the country and signed with Stanford, but there were only three true offensive or defensive linemen amongst the top 19 that year as well. Interior defensive lineman Hero Kanu signed with Ohio State, and DT Mason Graham signed with Michigan. The third was Earnest Greene. The Dawgs grabbed him out of Southern California and he started every game at left tackle for UGA this past season.
Do you see the theme? Elite big men rarely grow out West. The few that pop up in any given cycle are usually plucked away by the best programs in the SEC and Big 10.
Williams getting Korey Foreman to stay in California while recruiting under the cloud of Helton’s hot seat was one of the more impressive recruiting feats of the cycle.
That is one of the reasons why Williams was the only staff member who Lincoln Riley retained when he became the new coach at USC. With early signing day just days away, the Trojans only singed 9 high-school prospects that year. Riley’s decision to retain Williams was immediately rewarded when USC got commitments from four-star safety Zion Branch and four-star CB Fabian Ross. Williams also pulled in the headliner of that class, getting a late commitment from five-star CB Domani Jackson
Jackson was #2 CB in the class and the #1 player in California. He chose the Trojans because of Williams, telling reporters that he would have gone to Alabama if Riley had not retained the DB coach.
A Habit of Capitalizing on Opportunity
Oregon, USC and Georgia are some of the more prestigious places a college coach could land. Williams didn’t get to those types of programs without some work. He has risen through the coaching ranks in a way similar to how he ascended as a player.
Williams played his prep ball at Culver City High and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Though he was raised just a couple of miles from the LA Coliseum (where USC plays their home games), he didn’t find himself being recruited by the Trojans or any other PAC-12 powers.
He spent a JUCO season at Pasadena City College in 2002. That was followed by a chance to play at Syracuse in 2003. From there he went to Idaho State. Williams was a team captain for the Bengals in 2004-2005, and his play made him an All-Big Sky first team selection. After two seasons in the Arena Football League, he looked for a path into the coaching profession.
Early in his career, Williams took a path similar to Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp, opting for on-field coaching positions at a lower level instead of grad assistant jobs in power conferences. He spent three years coaching cornerbacks at junior colleges in California, which exposed him to a lot of responsibility at a very young age. In an old interview with the PAC-12 Network, Williams talked about those JUCO years. Within the same day, he might be coaching his position group, running workouts as a strength coach, and cutting up film. He was doing all of that work for little money, but he found that a different kind of reward waited for him at the end of the season.
“As the season progressed and went on, you started seeing some of these guys that you coach, and they’re going on to, you know, Division 1A universities, and they’re the first ones in their families to pretty much go to college," said Williams. "So you start realizing how much of an impact you’re making, and these guys are getting a second chance at life. Once I started doing that, and I started seeing that, it made me realize I like helping people a lot more than I like just helping myself.”
That time in JUCO shaped Donte’s outlook on how a coach can impact someone's life. It made him into a true believer. He wants to help young men make the most of their talent, get a degree, and find a path to a better station in life.
That desire to help others made Williams realize that coaching was the right profession for him, and it led him to a quality control role at Nevada in 2010. He spent 2011-2012 as a graduate assistant working with the secondary on Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Washington. The next year he landed his first FBS position coach job at San Jose State. in 2013.
What to Make of the Numbers
If you didn’t know anything about Williams then surprise or confusion might have been the natural reaction to hearing that UGA’s new secondary coach was being hired from USC. It is no secret that the Trojans didn’t field stellar units under DC Alex Grinch over the last two seasons.
Skeptics of the hire could point to USC’s 119th ranked scoring defense that allowed 34.9 points a game. They could also ask about a pass defense that was 112th in the nation and allowed 255.2 yards per game. The Southern Cal defense was ranked 100th or lower in almost every major statistical category in 2023. That’s not where you would normally think to look for coaching help.
In truth, so many things were wrong with the USC defense over the last two years that it is hard to evaluate the job that Williams was doing there. He brought a slew of talented players into the program, but the scheme and system they were put into was doomed for failure. There seemed to be bigger cultural and philosophical issues at play that went beyond the scope of a position coach’s job description.
If you look back into his career, there are plenty of examples of Williams being an excellent developer and organizer of talent. He coached the cornerbacks at San Jose State in 2013 before taking over the entire secondary, and recruiting coordinator duties, in 2014 and 2015. The SJSU pass defense ranked 86th his first season with the program before becoming the nation’s best unit in his second season. The Spartans allowed just 117.6 passing yards a game that year and gave up just six touchdowns that entire season. Williams’ secondary continued to be excellent against the pass in 2015, allowing 157.8 yards a game.
Williams coached under defensive coordinator Greg Robinson during those last two seasons at SJSU. Robinson had a storied coaching career, serving as the DC for the Denver Broncos during back-to-back Super Bowl wins and working as DC for Mack Brown at Texas on two different occasions. Williams also worked under former Broyles Award winner Bob Diaco when both were at Nebraska in 2017. The guy has been around a lot of great defensive minds.
Williams also has a history of leading secondaries that produce lots of turnovers. That is an area that Kirby Smart has been vocal about wanting to improve. USC was fourth in the nation with 1.4 interceptions a game in 2022. When he was at Oregon, Williams oversaw a secondary that pulled in 37 interceptions in two seasons.
The turnover stats fit in with how Williams described his style to the PAC-12 Network in 2021. “As a coach, I’m really, really demanding, aggressive by nature, and I’m going to make sure, that everyday, whether it’s meetings, whether it’s practice, whether it’s the game, that you’re going to get the best of me. So, it’s all about me to bring the best out in everyone else around me.”
When you have a coaching career that has featured many stops over many years, you can find a lot of stats to fit a lot of different arguments. It doesn’t mean they are predictive of future performance.
The Reality of the Job
When it comes to his new position at UGA, there are a couple numbers that really matter with Williams. The first is 34. That is the number of four and five-star recruits that Donte Williams has had a hand in signing during his career. Williams was the primary recruiter on at least 25 of those players.
The second number is 6. That is how many five-stars Williams has been the primary recruiter for. He snagged two of those players while still coaching at Oregon. In the 2020 class, Williams landed five-star ILB Justin Flowe out of Upland, CA in a national recruiting battle where the Ducks beat out Clemson, Miami and Georgia.
Williams also won over five-star CB Dontae Manning in that same 2020 cycle. Manning was a native of Kansas City and had been the top player in the state of Missouri. He was the highest ranked defensive back recruit in the history of Oregon football when he signed. Once again, it was a national recruitment. Williams landed Manning over Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and, you guessed it, Georgia.
Kirby Smart is not shy about his beliefs or his methods. Talent acquisition is not just part of the job. To Smart, recruiting is priority number one.
Following UGA’s win over Florida in 2021, Smart made his opinion on the matter known. “I don’t care who you are. The best coach to ever play the game better be a good recruiter because no coaching is going to out-coach players. Anyone will tell you our defense is good because we’ve got good players.”
Smart is one of the most tenacious recruiters in college football. Part of that is skill and savvy, but a lot of it is pure work ethic. “My family sacrifices so that I can go spend time with other people’s families so that we can have good players,” said Smart. “That’s 25% evaluation, 50% recruiting, and the other 25% is coaching. If you don’t recruit, guys, you’ve got no chance.”
Some have been critical about Smart’s hire of Donte Williams, sharing the belief that it is essentially a recruiting move. The rebuttal to that is, well, duh. Kirby Smart does everything with recruiting in mind. Georgia has gone up against Williams in big recruitments on multiple occasions. If Kirby Smart recruits against you and comes away impressed, then you are a straight up dude on the trail.
Williams is joining a staff full of all-star recruiters, and he might end up being the best of the bunch. However, that doesn’t mean the guy can’t coach DB’s. If you go back and look at some of the units Williams has been involved in, you see a lot of similar philosophies to what Kirby Smart defenses like to do in the back end.
When Williams was coaching at Oregon, his boundary corners played a ton of press coverage. I went back and watched some tape from the 2019 Ducks, and saw a lot of coverage techniques that are similar to what UGA’s defense has done during Smart's tenure.
Fran Brown was an excellent fit at Georgia because he was a great recruiter who was happy to work with Smart, Muschamp and the rest of the program's defensive brain trust. That wasn’t always the case with secondary coaches in the past. Brown used Smart and Muschamp as resources and knew that their experience and expertise could help him grow as a coach. In addition to following their broader vision on technique, Brown possessed a personality that created camaraderie among the players in his defensive backs room.
Williams has a chance to be a similar type of fit. He grew up in Southern California and his family still resides there. He has never coached at a program located further East than Nebraska. It is hard to imagine him being in Athens if he didn’t see this as an opportunity to grow as a coach. He won’t be asked to reinvent the wheel. Smart has his methods that he likes to use in the secondary, and it is likely that Williams will coach Georgia's boundary corners the way that UGA always has under Smart. Williams had a reputation as a coach that players loved at USC, and that has carried over to Georgia as well.
A National Recruiting Program...
When UGA hired Fran Brown it was significant because he came with recruiting ties to Texas and the Northeast. It was another signal that Georgia has gone from a regional recruiting program to a national recruiting program.
The Williams hire has similar implications, but this time it aligns even better with the areas where UGA has been signing players in recent years. The two biggest powerhouses in California prep football are Mater Dei and St. John Bosco. The Dawgs pulled Earnest Greene from Bosco in the 2022 class. Former UGA QB JT Daniels was a Mater Dei alum, and Georgia has recruited the school heavily in recent cycles. In the 2024 class, five of the top six players in California played for Mater Dei or Bosco. You could argue that Williams has recruited those two schools as well as anyone. Six of the 34 blue-chip recruits he has been responsible for signing came from those programs. Those relationships bring significant plus-value for UGA.
Another school that should be a priority for any program wanting to recruit the West Coast effectively is Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. If you’re a future FBS player being raised in the fast-growing Vegas area, chances are high that you will end up playing your prep football at Bishop Gorman. Williams signed three blue-chip players from the school in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles. One of those was five-star Zachariah Branch, the top ranked wideout in the 2023 class. Branch had over 1,100 all-purpose yards for the Trojans as a true freshman this past season.
As a West Coast coach, Williams did the majority of his recruiting work in California, but he has proven his style translates elsewhere too. He has landed blue-chip prospects from Missouri, Maryland and Florida in recent years. Donte brought waves of highly ranked DB’s into Oregon and USC, but he also strengthened the talent levels in other key spots. 19 of the blue-chip prospects that Williams has signed in his career didn’t play in the secondary.
Williams has gotten off to a strong start at Georgia. He flipped fast rising four-star CB Shamari Earls from South Carolina earlier this summer. Earls is 6'2" with a 180 pound frame and smooth hips. There is a good chance he ends the cycle as a five-star. He also grabbed a commitment from versatile DB Jontae Gilbert last week. Gilbert was a one-time Ohio State commit who UGA turned the heat up on after seeing him in a personal workout earlier this summer. Williams has also contributed to the signings of Jaylan Morgan and Rashad Johnson, two out of state safeties who have significant upside. He has also already gotten commitments from two of the top 15 cornerbacks in the 2026 cycle.
...That Evaluates as Well as Anyone
What's interesting about Williams is what may happen when his natural recruiting abilities are coupled with the program's ability to identify talented prospects that much of the industry might miss. There's no doubt that winning heavyweight fights for five-star recruits is an important skill to have. What's interesting to consider in the NIL era is the value of identifying a Top 50 player who might be ranked 450th in his class.
It's great to beat other powers for a guy everyone wants, but it's also likely to cost you. In 2024, there is nothing more valuable than being able to identify a player who can be developed into a five-star talent while being acquired a three-star price. Nobody in college football has been better at identifying upside in recent years than Georgia. The Dawgs recruited AD Mitchell, Javon Bullard and Ladd McConkey as three-star recruits. All of them were taken within the first 60 picks of last year's NFL Draft. Kirby Smart has gotten over a quarter of his three-star recruits drafted during his time at Georgia.
Identifying players who are undervalued matters more now than ever before. One of UGA's best evals in recent years is Daniel Harris, a player who will be a key member of Donte Williams's first CB room at Georgia. Harris was a somewhat under the radar prospect for most of his recruitment. He wasn't nationally ranked by 247, and was seen as outside the top 35 players in Florida by ESPN and Rivals. He was called a "developmental prospect" by some scouts and rose up rankings late in the cycle after the industry realized that Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State were all after him hard during the summer before his senior year.
Georgia identified him early, and they'll be glad that they did for many years to come. Harris is 6'2" and 180 pounds with an absurd 78-inch wingspan. In truth, he is the picture of what an ideal NFL corner body looks like these days, but some wondered if he was too stiff or not smooth enough to play the position at an elite level as he was coming up out of Gulliver Prep in Miami. Georgia worked him out in person in March of 2022 and quickly realized that he had the chance to be a special player. Being the first major program to be on Harris did wonders for the Bulldogs. Harris took official visits to UGA, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in June of 2022, but it was Georgia who he picked when he chose a program on July 1.
The problem for UGA? It was still almost six months to early signing day. Harris watched as UGA continued to build a DB class that included then #1 CB AJ Harris. Other programs gave him much to think about, and Harris decided to decommit from UGA on November 15th, just five weeks before signing day. In the end, Harris recommitted to Georgia on the morning of signing day. Unlike most recruits these days, he did not enroll early at UGA.
When Daniel arrived in Athens last fall, most assumed it would be the five-star AJ Harris who would try to push for early playing time. In reality, it was Daniel who would become the ascendant Harris in UGA's cornerback room. Pretty soon, the buzz started on Harris from sources. His sturdy frame and long arms let him swallow WR's at the line. He also had the biggest trait that Kirby Smart requires from any corner- He tackled willingly and well. Pretty soon, Georgia realized that they didn't just have a future starter on their hands. They had a corner with high first-round potential. You see, Harris was faster than many realized. The downside to bigger corners in the eyes of some is that most are not as smooth and fast as the traditional corner body type that measures in at under six feet. Harris has been clocked the low 4.5's and high 4.4's in the forty-yard dash.
As the season went along, those who watched practice everyday saw a corner who looked ready to play major snaps right now. It's rare that a true freshman gets on the field at cornerback for UGA, but Harris was pushing those in front of him with his play. After UGA's loss to Alabama, the freshman considered his future.
Kamari Lassiter's starting spot would be opening after the season, but Daylen Everette would be back again. Julian Humphrey had gotten injured against Ole Miss, but the week before he had a breakout performance by coming in and playing snaps at UGA's #1 CB spot while Lassiter moved into the slot to cover Luther Burden against Missouri. With Humphrey appearing in line for a starting role, Harris looked to enter the portal. He announced his intentions on Christmas Day. Sources expected him to transfer back home to Miami, and insinuated that the Hurricanes had been in his ear offering immediate playing time.
A lot of UGA players enter the portal every year, but it's rare to see the Bulldogs fight to keep one as hard as they did Harris. Georgia told Harris that they thought he was ready to play now. When the Dawgs faced FSU in the Orange Bowl, Harris split first-team reps with Everette.
Harris played 34 snaps in the 63-3 victory, and gave up 1 reception on 4 targets. The interesting thing about his game was that the catch he gave up may have illustrated his unique skillset better than any completion he didn't allow. Watch the clip of Harris below. You can see him recover beautifully and then use his long arms to get to the ball while trying to breakup the intended pass. The FSU WR makes an excellent play and holds onto the ball, but it took a tremendous effort from a 6'3" wideout to make the completion happen.
Screen Recording 2024-08-15 at 2.26.10 AM.mov
Harris's speed and size is jarring when you see it. Guys his size are not supposed to be able to run with speedy wideouts, but that's exactly what he does. He very well may have the highest ceiling of any UGA cornerback to come through the program under Kirby Smart. He symbolizes the value that can be created by Georgia's relentless scouting efforts. The Dawgs found a diamond who was ready to play first-team reps as a true freshman at the best program in college football. Recruiting him early made a huge difference in landing him.
For a moment this offseason it seemed like Harris might be penciled in as UGA's starter opposite of Lassiter in 2024. That moment came when Humphrey announced his decision to enter the portal shortly after the Orange Bowl. Donte Williams, Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp all worked hard to convince Humphrey he could reach his NFL dreams with one more season in Athens. In fact, Williams and Muschamp were in Humphrey's house in Houston when last year's College Football Playoff semifinal between Washington and Texas was going on.
Keeping both Harris and Humphrey to compete for the CB job opposite of Everette has given the Bulldogs an embarrassment of riches in Williams's first year in the room. That might not have happened if the new DB coach wasn't able to forge fast relationships with both players. As UGA's fall camp wears on, the two are locked in a battle that sources have referred to as "fierce but respectful."
Humphrey's ability to step into the lineup unexpectedly against Mizzou gave UGA a major boost in stopping the Tigers deep receiving corps. He saw 6 targets that day but gave up only 2 catches while having a big pass breakup on a third down. With the high flying offenses that are everywhere in modern college football, having great boundary corners can be a ticket to success. Georgia will be able to use all three of Everette, Harris and Humphrey when necessary. It will also be able to navigate injuries if they do hit the room.
In that trio, Georgia has two rising juniors who were once rated as five-stars by at least one recruiting service (Everette and Humphrey) in addition to a lower ranked four-star whose upside and physical traits were identified by the UGA staff before the rest of the country caught on. Being able to identify and develop is great for a program. Being able to beat other for five-star caliber players is too. Doing both can give a program an edge that leads to titles.
Donte Williams will look to help the Bulldogs on both fronts in the years ahead, and his trio of NFL caliber corners will look to ensure that the work done to keep them at Georgia pays dividends in January. If the Dawgs are able to win a third title in four years, it's likely that the defense's ability to make top WR's disappear will be a big reason why.
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