ATHENS — Did Scott Sinclair’s game-day job just get twice as hard?
Possibly.
Sinclair, who stays busy as the Georgia Bulldogs’ director of strength and conditioning Monday through Friday, has one of the more challenging duties of all Georgia staffers during games as Kirby Smart’s personal “get-back” coach. He’s the guy you see firmly gripping Smart’s belt from behind, desperately pulling Georgia’s coach back onto the sideline to avoid a penalty.
On Monday, we found out that the Bulldogs’ sideline this season also will include assistant coach Will Muschamp. Muschamp, of course, earned the nickname of “Coach Boom” for his sometimes wild and over-the-top sideline antics over a 25-year coaching career.
Smart revealed that Muschamp will indeed coach from the sideline this season. So, NCAA side judges be warned, there is potential double trouble on the Bulldogs’ bench.
Muschamp was, of course, fired as South Carolina’s head coach last fall. Smart hired his longtime friend as a defensive analyst in February. Muschamp was promoted to special-teams coordinator in July when assistant Scott Cochran took a leave of absence from that position to address “mental health” issues.
“He’s been a tremendous asset,” Smart said of Muschamp. “I can’t express enough (gratitude about) the move to get him on board, and how important it’s been, especially considering our situation, with him being an on-the-field coach. He’s been a jolt of energy to special teams.”
How much coordinating of special teams Muschamp actually is doing is a matter of debate. He is spending just as much time, if not more, assisting secondary coach Jahmile Addae with Georgia’s defensive backs. Muschamp is a former DB himself and is a defensive coordinator by trade.
The Bulldogs are having to rebuild a secondary that sent five players to the NFL and saw two other defensive backs transfer to other schools.
“He’s been an extra set of eyes in the defensive backfield,” Smart said Monday. “We’ve been able to break things down. You know, there are a lot of parts to the secondary, and when you’ve got new parts in all those parts, it helps to have an extra set of eyes. He’s been tremendous at that.”
Georgia’s defensive backs are expected to have their hands full Saturday. While the Tigers lost their top three receivers from a year ago and 60% of their pass-catching production, they feature a talented and well-sized receiving corps.
That group is led by junior Justyn Ross, who is returning after missing last season with a career-threatening neck injury. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound receiver will play in the slot this season. He has 1,865 career receiving yards and 17 touchdowns.
The rest of the rotation, which includes juniors Frank Ladson and Joseph Ngata, sophomore E.J. Williams and heralded freshman Dacari Collins of Westlake High. All measure at 6-3 or taller.
While Muschamp can’t play, helping coach Georgia’s secondary certainly can’t hurt.
“The silver lining here is, if it means Will Muschamp is more directly involved and on the field as a coach with a secondary that has been completely overhauled, I’m not sure that’s not a net positive,” said ESPN analyst Matt Stinchcomb, a former Muschamp teammate at Georgia.
Muschamp last worked as an assistant coach on the sideline as Auburn’s defensive coordinator in 2015.
Meanwhile, when or if Cochran might return remains an open-ended question. Because his is a health-related absence, by law he is supposed to be allowed to return to his job, or to one of equal value. Cochran was making $550,000 a year as Georgia’s special-teams coordinator.
Muschamp is making $300,000 a year. But he and his family – which includes UGA walk-on quarterback Jackson Muschamp – probably aren’t hurting for money. Muschamp accepted $12.9 million in a negotiated settlement from South Carolina on Dec. 31.
