Brian Van Gorder had a lot of success as Georgia’s defensive coordinator from 2001-2004. He led the Dawgs’ defenses to top 10 scoring defenses each year and won the Frank Broyles Award as the top assistant in the country in 2003. In 2004, Georgia was 10-2 and finished seventh in the poll and the defense ranked eighth nationally overall and ninth in scoring defense. He went to the Jacksonville Jags after that to coach linebackers and, after a year, went to Georgia Southern, where he didn’t have much success as a head coach. He then went to the Atlanta Falcons as linebackers coach and then became defensive coordinator for the Falcons in 2008. Did a solid job with the group. Atlanta was 12th in defense this year in the 32 team NFL. His pass defense got somewhat torched by Eli and the Giants on Sunday, but Eli has been doing that to everybody lately.
Van Gorder, 52, is considered an excellent recruiter, and he has close ties in Georgia, always a magnet for Auburn recruiting. Georgia is loaded with talent; even more than Alabama. It has more people and more schools so there are more players in Georgia. Van Gorder will blitz and run zone coverage and he brings excellent intensity to the field. A couple of former Georgia players, David Pollack, and Travis Williams, who also played at AU, heaped praises on Van Gorder. Outstanding hire by Chiz.
There is talk swirling now that Kerwin Bell, who played quarterback at Florida and is now the Jacksonville University head coach, will become Auburn’s new offensive coordinator. That’s not confirmed, but there is speculation that might happen.
Key recruit, five-star wide receiver Stefon Diggs (Rivals) out of Maryland , in this weekend. Diggs has been offered by around 35 schools and is very interested in AU, Florida, USC, Cal and Michigan. Offensive coordinator hire will be crucial in getting Diggs. Linebacker Kwon Alexander of Oxford, Al, may get pretty excited about Van Gorder and pull the trigger at some point.
(Brian Van Gorder to lead the AU defense.)