Two Georgia assistants named among rising stars in coaching world

Ranking coaches has been a popular thing to do in College Football here in the month of June. On Wednesday, Matt Zenitz gave it a shot too but went about it in a little bit more of an organized way asking over 100 individuals involved in coaching in some capacity for feedback as he identified the rising star assistants in College Football with two Georgia assistants – Todd Hartley and Chidera Uzo-Diribe – included on the list of 65.

To Zenitz, inclusion on the list meant that this individual would be on track to garner attention and interest come next year’s coaching cycle. The criteria included being under the age of 45 and not currently holding a coordinator or co-coordinator title. That eliminated from Georgia’s staff, Todd Monken, Will Muschamp, Glenn Schumann, Dell McGee and Stacy Searels. Members of the 2021 rising star assistants list were excluded which knocked Fran Brown out of contention. So, of the eligible assistant coaches, only Bryan McClendon and Tray Scott did not make the cut.

Todd Hartley

Hartley, 36, has been Georgia’s tight ends coach since taking over the job in 2019. A graduate from the University of Georgia, he actually got his start in coaching as a student assistant while in school. From there, Hartley went to West Virginia before returning to Georgia and ultimately landing his first full-time job at Marshall. Hartley returned to Athens once again in 2015 for a one-year stint as the director of player personnel before spending three seasons at Miami coaching tight ends and coordinating special teams.

Hartley has built quite the reputation for himself in recruiting – landing the No. 2 tight end according to the On3 Consensus in each of the last three recruiting classes. In 2020, that was five-star Darnell Washington out of Desert Pines (Las Vegas, Nev.), followed by Brock Bowers from Napa, Calif. and Oscar Delp from West Forsyth (Cumming, Ga.) in 2021 and 2022. Bowers broke Georgia tight end records during his freshman season as he led the Bulldogs in receiving with 56 catches for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns. Those three, plus LSU transfer Arik Gilbert – the No. 1 tight end in the Class of 2020 ahead of Washington – will team up this season in one of the most talented position groups across the country with On3 Sports ranking Bowers, Gilbert and Washington as three of the top six tight ends in the country.

Chidera Uzo-Diribe

Uzo-Diribe, 29, is an even younger coach than Hartley, and he’ll be in his first season at Georgia this fall, joining the Bulldogs as the outside linebackers coach following the departure of Dan Lanning.

He was hired as the TCU defensive line coach this past coaching cycle before Kirby Smart was able to lure him away. Uzo-Diribe was making the jump to TCU from SMU with the Horned Frogs’ new head coach Sonny Dykes, previously at SMU too. Prior to being at SMU for a season, Uzo-Diribe was at Kansas for two seasons and a graduate assistant at Colorado, where he played collegiately, for three years before that.

“Chidera gives us great energy, enthusiasm,” Smart said about Uzo-Diribe this spring. “Played the position. Easy to recruit outside backers, defensive ends at the University of Georgia because we’ve produced a lot of them, but it’s also easy to recruit to him because he played the position with tremendous success. Had a stint in the NFL, he’s got a really good track record, high character, very enthusiastic, and we’ve seen the impact on our players with what he’s done.”

Zenitz’s recognition isn’t the first that Uzo-Diribe has received as a rising young assistant. He participated in the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship Program with the San Francisco 49ers and was named to 247Sports’ 30-under-30 list.

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