Gamecocks analyst Freddie Kitchens headed to UNC
South Carolina Gamecocks offensive analyst Freddie Kitchens is being hired by North Carolina as its tight ends coach, according to a report from On3’s Matt Zenitz.
Kitchens would replace John Lilly, who left recently for a NFL position with the Carolina Panthers, on Mack Brown’s coaching staff.
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Shane Beamer’s program, of course, opens the 2023 season with a tilt against the Tar Heels in Charlotte.
Kitchens originally joined the South Carolina program in May of 2022 as Senior Football Analyst after spending multiple years in the National Football League as a position coach, coordinator, and head coach.
Along with Nick Coleman, who’s now on staff at UAB, Kitchens served as a play-caller for the Gamecocks’ Gator Bowl matchup with Notre Dame to close out the 2022 season.
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Another analyst from Beamer’s staff, Stanton Weber, was recently hired as Toledo’s special teams coordinator. Coleman was hired by Trent Dilfer to serve as UAB’s quarterbacks coach, and nutrition director Kristin Coggin is now on staff at Nebraska.
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Kitchens was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2019, then was the tight ends coach for the New York Giants in 2020. The following season, he was a senior offensive assistant and, later, interim offensive coordinator for the Giants.
The Alabama native and former Crimson Tide quarterback was on the same Mississippi Staff as Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer back in 2005.
“He’s been a head coach, for one,” Beamer said of Kitchens in May of 2022. “So, it’s great to have former head coaches on our staff. We’ve got him and Pete Lembo, and being able to have guys like that. That’s great. So he’s got experience there. He’s coached in the NFL for a long time, but he’s also coached and recruited in college, so he can certainly help with that. He’s been around some high-profile players from Odell Beckham Jr. to Baker Mayfield to Saquan Barkley, he’s been around some really good players and strong personalities. And I think that experience would be good with our guys as well.”
Kitchens will return to an on-field role in the college game for the first time since 2005. He previously logged stints at Glenville State, LSU (graduate assistant), and North Texas, along with the stint at Mississippi State.
