Georgia football has someone next in the secondary.
The Bulldogs announced former Southern California defensive backs and defensive passing game coordinator Donte Williams as their new defensive backs coach. Williams coached cornerbacks and defensive backs in 2020 and was named USC’s interim head coach in 2021.
This will be the first time that the California native, known as USC’s outstanding recruiter, will primarily recruit in the Southeast. But this is the West Region, which has produced Bulldog players such as Brock Bowers, Darnell Washington, Kendall Milton and, more recently, redshirt freshman Ernest Greene III and freshmen Roderick Robinson II and Justin Lett. It may prove beneficial for prospective freshmen from .
Williams was originally hired as part of current Georgia Southern head coach Clay Helton’s staff while Helton was head coach at USC. Williams worked under current head coach Lincoln Riley before joining the Bulldogs. Williams thanked USC’s coaches and administration in his own social media post.
“I want to thank Coach Helton, Coach Riley, and all the great coaches I’ve had the pleasure of working with and learning from over the past four years at USC,” Williams wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). . “The most important thing is to thank the players for the memories and for letting me coach them. When one chapter ends, another begins.”
Williams will take the head coaching job at Syracuse, replacing former defensive backs coach Fran Brown, who has 16 years of college coaching experience. Williams began his coaching career at Los Angeles Harbor College and went on to coach at two other community colleges before accepting a position as the team’s defensive quality control coach at the University of Nevada in 2010. Obtained.
Williams then joined the University of Washington as a graduate assistant and helped oversee cornerbacks and linebackers from 2011 to 2012. He then spent time at San Jose State from 2013 to 2015 as the team’s cornerbacks coach and eventually the team’s secondary coach and recruiting coordinator.
Williams then bounced around schools in the West, coaching cornerbacks at Arizona in 2016, Nebraska in 2017, Oregon in 2018 and 2019 before joining USC. This will be Williams’ first position in the Southeast in his college coaching career.
Williams’ playing career dates back to 2002 when he was a defensive back at Pasadena City College. He then transferred to Syracuse in 2003 and then again to Idaho State, where he played from 2004 to 2005. While coaching at Los Angeles Harbor College and El Camino College in 2007 and 2008, Williams played arena football for the Rio Grande Valley Dorados and the Arkansas Twisters. alliance.
During his time with the Trojans, Williams has worked with top recruits such as former five-star cornerback Domani Jackson, as well as cornerback Seyea Wright, safety Zion Branch and safety Tackett Curtis from 2021-2021. , helped bring in top four-star recruits such as cornerback Maliki Crawford. 2023.
It is unclear whether Williams will join the Bulldogs to practice for the Orange Bowl game against Florida State on Dec. 30, but he will remain with the team for the 2024 season.