New assistant coaches that made immediate impact on recruiting trail in 2023
The coaching carousel following the 2021 season was one for the record books. A number of elite college football jobs opened and closed, with Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, Oregon, Miami, Florida, and TCU all changing leadership.
Along with the tectonic shifts among head coaches, some major hires were made at the assistant coach level — with a particularly strong impact on the 2023 recruiting cycle. Now, with that cycle reaching its conclusion, we look back at which assistant hires made the biggest (and earliest) impact on the recruiting trail.
Tashard Choice – Texas
Biggest recruiting win: Five-star RB Cedric Baxter Jr.
The Skinny: Plain and simply, five-star Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater running back Cedric Baxter Jr. isn’t signed with Texas if the Longhorns don’t hire Choice away from USC last winter. The former Georgia Tech running back went to work on Baxter and made him his No. 1 priority from the get-go. Florida, Florida State and other programs worked to flip him, but the relationship with Choice was arguably the biggest factor in keeping him with Texas.
Chidera Uzo-Diribe and Fran Brown – Georgia
Biggest recruiting win: Five-star EDGE Damon Wilson and four-star CB Daniel Harris
The Skinny: Kirby Smart had to replace a pair of defensive assistants during the offseason after Dan Lanning went to Oregon and Jahmile Addae left for Miami. In their place, he brought Uzo-Diribe and Brown, who helped put together a monster defensive recruiting class for the Bulldogs.
Uzo-Diribe went toe-to-toe with legendary Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson for Wilson and came out on top, along with pulling four-star Samuel M’Pemba away from Notre, Miami and a handful of others.
Brown, meanwhile, crisscrossed the country after coming from Rutgers. By the end of the cycle, he’d not only helped land four-star safety Joenel Aguero, but put together one of the country’s best cornerback classes with four-stars Chris Peal, Daniel Harris, A.J. Harris and Justyn Rhett.
Nick Eason – Clemson
Biggest recruiting win: Five-star DL Peter Woods
The Skinny: Hiring Eason, a rising star in the coaching industry, away from Auburn was no small feat for Dabo Swinney. And it paid some massive dividends for Clemson’s 2023 class. Not only did Eason beat out Alabama for an in-state five-star in Woods, but he nabbed both Vic Burley and Stephiylan Green out of the state of Georgia and away from the Bulldogs. The result is arguably the best defensive line haul this cycle.
Corey Raymond – Florida
Biggest recruiting wins: Four-star DBs Ja’Keem Jackson and Dijon Johnson
The Skinny: Raymond is often referred to as the ‘GOAT’ of defensive backs coaches — and for good reason. His combination of recruiting and skill development has made him a prized commodity at the college level. When Billy Napier was able to poach him from LSU, it signaled a major shift in how the Gators would recruit the secondary.
Raymond was thisclose to landing five-star corner Cormani McClain before he committed to Miami, but still landed two of the best cover corners in the class with Jackson and Johnson, along with four-star Sharif Denson.
Cortez Hankton – LSU
Biggest recruiting win: Four-star WR Jalen Brown
The Skinny: As a native of New Orleans, Hankton was a natural fit for Brian Kelly’s staff at LSU. And while landing four-star wideout Shelton Sampson Jr. was no small feat, his most impressive work came in Florida, where he pulled four-star Jalen Brown out of Miami.
The in-state Hurricanes were thought to be a major threat to land him in the first place, then to flip him after he committed to the Tigers. But Brown stayed the course with Hankton and signed in December, putting him as a potential instant impact player for Kelly as a freshman.
Jeff Lebby – Oklahoma
Biggest recruiting win: Five-Star Plus+ QB Jackson Arnold
The Skinny: When Five-Star Plus+ QB Malachi Nelson decommitted from Oklahoma after Lincoln Riley bolted for USC, the Sooners were in a bad place with their 2023 class. Not only had Nelson flipped, but so had OU’s top three receiver commits. Enter Lebby, who came to the Sooners from Ole Miss under the tutelage of Lane Kiffin.
Lebby quickly identified Arnold as his guy, and the nation’s No. 4 QB committed in January. On top of that, nearly a year later, Arnold’s best friend, five-star safety Peyton Bowen, signed with the Sooners — in no small part due to his future quarterback.
Chansi Stuckey – Notre Dame
Biggest recruiting wins: Four-star WR Jaden Greathouse
The Skinny: Stuckey, who was a rising star at Baylor before coming to South Bend, took over a position where the Irish had signed just one wideout in the 2022 class. Suffice to say, he had his work cut out for him from the beginning.
Despite that, he landed not only Greathouse — who was heavily pursued until the end by Texas — but also grabbed four-star receiver Braylon James out of Texas as well. In total, Notre Dame landed five wideouts this cycle — four rated as four-stars — under Stuckey’s watch. And he made major waves in Texas, with three of the five coming from the Lone Star State.
Sterling Lucas — South Carolina
Biggest recruiting win: Five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor
The Skinny: After spending the previous year coaching for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Lucas made as big of a first-year impact as any assistant in the country on the recruiting trail. Harbor is very much the headliner, as the Gamecocks initially recruited him to play defense, but Lucas stayed involved in his recruitment throughout.
On top of that though, he used deep connections in the DMV from his time with the Baltimore Ravens to help South Carolina build a pipeline up there. 4-star EDGEs Desmond Umeozulu and Monteque Rhames help to fill out one of the Gamecocks’ best classes ever.
Demetrice Martin — Oregon
Biggest recruiting win: Four-star CB Rodrick Pleasant
The Skinny: Bringing Martin to Oregon was a major priority for first-year Ducks head coach Dan Lanning, and there’s a reason for that. The man nicknamed ‘Meat’ left very little on the bone in this cycle, helping pull off a pair of major recruiting coups for the Ducks. Flipping four-star defensive back Daylen Austin from his longtime LSU commitment — and getting him to sign early — was a major win. As was beating out USC for one of the fastest prospects in the country, Pleasant, in the Trojans’ backyard.