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Dell McGee: New offensive coach for Georgia Bulldogs?

By John Buhler

Dec 23, 2015; Mobile, AL, USA; Georgia Southern Eagles head coach Dell McGee is carried on to the field on the shoulders of his players after defeating the Bowling Green Falcons of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Georgia Southern won 58-27. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2015; Mobile, AL, USA; Georgia Southern Eagles head coach Dell McGee is carried on to the field on the shoulders of his players after defeating the Bowling Green Falcons of the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Georgia Southern won 58-27. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Andrews-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dell McGee was supposedly going to join former GSU coach Willie Fritz at Tulane, but reports have surfaced saying that the RBs coach could come to UGA.

According to Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, incoming head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs Kirby Smart may have hired two more coaches to his offensive staff: James Coley, former offensive coordinator for Al Golden with the Miami Hurricanes, and Dell McGee, former running backs coach/assistant head coach for Willie Fritz with the Georgia Southern Eagles.

While Coley’s name has circulated with the Georgia Bulldogs’ 2016 staff for the last few days, the supposed hiring of Dell McGee comes as a bit of a surprise as he was supposedly going to follow Fritz to New Orleans to coach the Tulane Green Wave in the American Athletic Conference.

Dell McGee joined Fritz’s staff in Statesboro in 2014 as strictly a running backs coach in the triple option offense. He was then promoted to assistant head coach in 2015, which marked Georgia Southern’s first ever bowl game since moving up to Division I.

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Smart have filled two of his three remaining offensive coaching staff positions, assuming he did end up hiring James Coley and Dell McGee. His previous two hires were offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jim Chaney and offensive line coach Sam Pittman.

Smart reportedly spoke with Shane Beamer of Virginia Tech on Saturday down in Jacksonville. Perhaps he is still in the mix, as Georgia still officially doesn’t have a coach for the running backs, the wide receivers, or the tight ends. It seems that Coley and McGee will fill two of those three positions on Smart’s staff.

The biggest available position is defensive coordinator. While the two retained coaches from Mark Richt’s staff, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, could end up being promoted to defensive coordinator, Towers reports that Alabama’s outside linebacker coach Tosh Lopoi and defensive backs coach Mel Tucker are two names to keep an eye on. There have been rumors that Lopoi may end up coming to Athens stemming as far back as Christmas Day.

With the reported hiring of Dell McGee, it seems that Smart wants a strong emphasis on the ground game. McGee did run the triple option in Statesboro for Georgia Southern, so he knows a ton about pounding the rock.

Having Sam Pittman coaching the offensive line allows the ground game to really take off should McGee end up being the running backs coach. Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney does plan on running a balanced, pro-style offense in Athens, though he does have experience with the spread and the ground-and-pound as well.

Even in the week leading up to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, which will be Smart’s last game as defensive coordinator of Alabama, Kirby Smart is showing complete commitment to the Georgia Bulldogs while the Alabama Crimson Tide play for another National Championship.

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Rocker, Sherrer look forward to 2016

With class starting in eight days, Smart is getting closer to finalizing his first staff as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, with the reported hirings of James Coley and now Dell McGee.

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