Georgia Football: Derrick Ansley Should Be The Dawgs Next Defensive Coordinator

Coach Kirby Smart is searching for a new man to run the defense and coach defensive backs for Georgia Football. There would be no better coach to hire than Oakland Raiders defensive backs coach Derrick Ansley.

Though Derrick Ansley is the defense backs coach for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL, most of his experience comes at the college level. With his experienced he is certainly a guy that the Georgia Football leadership will want to interview for their open defensive coordinator position.

Ansley is an Alabama native that played college football at Troy University. He played defensive back and had 19 interceptions in his four-year career, ranking him number 16 all time.

Derrick’s first coaching job was at Huntingdon College, a small division three school in Montgomery, Alabama. He coached their defensive backs for four seasons.

In 2010 Derrick Ansley went to the University of Alabama as a graduate assistant. There he worked with their defensive backs for two seasons under head coach Nick Saban. In 2011 he worked with the number one defense in the nation, as Alabama won their second championship in three seasons.

The following season, Derrick Ansley accepted the job as defensive backs coach at the University of Tennessee. He worked under head coach Derek Dooley, son of legendary National Championship winning Georgia Football coach Vince Dooley. This was Derrick’s first paid job as an SEC assistant coach.

With Derek Dooley being let go following the 2012 season, Derrick Ansley moved on and accepted the position of cornerbacks coach with the University of Kentucky. He coached their corners for two seasons, before being promoted to secondary coach in 2015.

When Kirby Smart was named head coach at Georgia in 2016, he took defensive backs coach Mel Tucker with him from Alabama to be the UGA defensive coordinator. At that time Derrick Ansley was believed to be a candidate to coach defensive backs at both UGA and Alabama.

Ansley chose to roll with Nick Saban and Alabama, replacing Mel Tucker as defensive backs coach. Alabama lost to Clemson in the National Title Game in Derrick’s first year back. Unfortunately we know the result of the 2017 season, as our Dawgs lost to the Tide for the title.

Derrick Ansley is credited with assisting in the development of several NFL draft picks over the last couple of years. Players such as Marlon Humphrey, Eddie Jackson, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Anthony Averett and Ronnie Harrison, all were NFL draft picks coached by Ansley.

Following the 2017 season, Mr. Ansley accepted the defense backs coaching position for the Oakland Raiders under John Gruden. He currently holds that position.

Derrick had previously accepted the defensive coordinator job at Colorado State under head coach and former UGA offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, before deciding to accept Gruden’s offer instead.

Linebackers coach Glenn Schumann is believed to be a strong candidate to be promoted to UGA defensive coordinator. If that happens, the Bulldogs will be looking for a defensive backs coach only.

Even though Derrick Ansley and Kirby Smart have a strong relationship from Ansley’s days as a graduate assistant at Alabama, it’s highly unlikely that he would leave his NFL post to be the Dawgs defensive backs coach. However if offered the defensive coordinator job, it’s a strong probability that Ansley would accept.

Mel Tucker being named as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, shows that being in charge Georgia Bulldogs’ defense is a springboard job to be a division one head coach. Certainly that would be appealing to the 36-year-old Ansley.

Derrick Ansley is also a very good recruiter, which is essential to be a part of Kirby Smart’s staff. In 2017 his last season at Alabama, Ansley was number fifteen in the nation according to 24/7 sports. He would comparable to Mel Tucker as a recruiter. Tucker ranked number 14 in the country by 24/7 sports for the 2018 recruiting cycle.

Considering the experience and recruiting ability of Derrick Ansley, I feel he is the best choice to be the next defensive coordinator at UGA. Glenn Schumann is a great young coach, but at 28 years old he’s the youngest position coach in the SEC.

Glenn Schumann is definitely on the fast track to coaching stardom. He is an outstanding recruiter in his own right, ranking number nine in the NCAA by 247sports.com for 2018. He’s off to a fantastic start for the 2019 cycle ranking number two in the entire NCAA!

The best solution to maintain a strong Georgia defensive coaching staff, is to hire Derek Ansley as defensive coordinator, and promote Glenn Schumann to co-defensive coordinator, with a pay raise. That way both men get to team up under Kirby Smart to run the Dawgs defensive game plan.

This would bring in the talented 36-year-old Ansley to coach defensive backs, and call the defense, and allow the 28-year-old Schumann to help design the game plan and help with in-game adjustments, with coaching the Dawgs linebackers.

The would put Derrick Ansley on deck for a head coaching gig, and Glenn Schumann would take over as sole defensive coordinator, when Ansley becomes a head coach. This would then allow Schumann to call the Dawgs’ defensive plays.

This co-defensive coordinator move would give UGA the best defensive staff possible. It would also allow the Dawgs to continue to have a dream team recruiting staff. I can only hope that Kirby Smart feels the same way I do.

Who do you want to see be the next defensive coordinator for Georgia Football? Please let us know in the comments below. Continue to check with ATL All Day for coverage on the Dawgs as we approach the Sugar Bowl against the Texas Longhorns.

Please download the FanSided app and favorite All Atlanta Sports for notifications on new articles. As always we appreciate your support.