Report: Colorado DC Charles Kelly to take job on Auburn defensive staff

Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly is reportedly on the move, set to leave the Buffaloes to take a job on Auburn‘s defensive staff, according to a report from On3’s Justin Hokanson.

Kelly spent one season in Colorado, where he helped orchestrate the defense for Deion Sanders‘ squad.

The long-time assistant coach has previously served on the staff at Alabama, Tennessee and Florida State. He was an influential figure at each stop. He was also nearly hired to Auburn’s inaugural staff under Hugh Freeze a year ago, in the running for the defensive coordinator job, according to Hokanson.

Prior to his stint at Colorado, Kelly spent four seasons on Nick Saban‘s staff at Alabama. He helped the Crimson Tide post a 47-6 record in that span, complete with a 2020 national championship.

Each season under Kelly Alabama’s defense was highly competent.

Before arriving at Alabama, Kelly spent one season on staff at Tennessee as the special teams and safeties coach. Prior to that he was at Florida State from 2013-17, where he helped the Seminoles win a national title.

Kelly was at Georgia Tech from 2006-2012, serving in various capacities.

Hugh Freeze discusses flipping commitments

While Freeze will be flipping Charles Kelly from Colorado, he’s also had to deal with other programs trying to flip his recruiting commitments over the last couple weeks.

The arrival of the early signing period just before Christmas left Freeze, like many other coaches, scrambling a bit.

“There’s some schools in this conference that, they believe in last night efforts,” Freeze said. “You gotta fight. You gotta hold on. You gotta stay up all night and play video games and do stuff that’s out of my comfort zone. There was some late night pushes and we won and held on some. Won one, lost one.

“People in this conference are good at what they do. I don’t always like what is done, but you gotta have plans and you gotta fight for it. But it was both. You’ve gotta try to hold on to your good ones and try to win a few battles at the end on some kids that are undecided.”

In any case, it was still a successful National Signing Day for Auburn and Hugh Freeze. The Tigers signed the No. 7 recruiting class in the country, including No. 4 in the SEC, according to On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings. That included two five-star players and 11 four-star players, a big win for Freeze’s first real class after taking over.