We’ve no doubt witnessed plenty of places where Georgia’s assistant coaching exuberance and joy of winning was on display. Part of Kirby’s success hinges upon finding assistants and analysts that have skill sets that match a passion and enthusiasm for Georgia football he wants to ripple throughout the program We saw it fully and gleefully after the championship win against Alabama:
Then, there’s Todd Hartley. Not many people would think that the tight ends coach would be a critical piece to the culture puzzle, but he’s made having the best TEs in Athens his personal passion and priority. While Bowers may prove to be a unicorn in the tight end world and is his biggest recruiting find, Hartley’s continued to succeed in finding and attracting more high quality talent. Washington, Delp, and Yurosek alongside #19 shows that Hartley didn’t just stumble onto something, but he’s set a standard for recruiting and high performance alike and he’s capable of duplicating it. Clearly, he’s the iron to sharpen the iron that’s become the core of Kirby’s program.
He is a Georgia boy, to boot. The 38 year old position coach from Gray, Georgia, graduated from UGA and had two stints at Georgia, along with coaching TEs at Marshall and Miami.
But what’s the pitch? How does Hartley attract the top talent he finds, and what did Kirby Smart initially see in him that made him an integral part of the Georgia empire?
Easy. It’s passion. To hear the man talk, you could convince me to play tight end at Georgia…even if I wasn’t a tight end.
”That G on my chest, that means something to me”.
Amen, brother. And Go Dawgs!
Hell of a coach, recruiter, and definitely a DGD!!
HBTFD
He will move on for other opportunities at some point but sure glad we’ve got him.
DGD. When Mike decides he has had enough, I think there’s your next OC.
This dude has something special. Been fun watching him grow.
Flat out, the dude is impressive.
That is how Georgia boys are grown into men in Middle Georgia
I think it’s underappreciated how Kirby (an alum) has Hartley, Bobo, and Muschamp in key spots as alums also. I think that helps bring the passion to the job.
When UGA football staff juices get flowing, the opposition shouldn’t be surprised when they go home with an “L”…GO DAWGS!!
The man has his priorities. Faith, Family and UGA football!!!