Georgia DB's coach Fran Brown garners praise from former boss
Georgia had 10 players enter the transfer portal after the winter window opened on December 5. Three of those players decided to continue their playing careers at Nebraska where Matt Rhule is the new head coach.
The Baylor turned Carolina Panthers turned Cornhusker head man held his National Signing Day press conference on Wednesday where he was asked about adding a trio of players from the back-to-back defending National Champions. He pointed directly to second-year defensive backs coach Fran Brown.
“Obviously they played until late, so they had a limited window because all those players, except for Arik (Gilbert), went into the portal after it was over with. As I get older, guys who coached for me now go on, like Fran (Brown) was a graduate assistant then a position coach and now he’s really one of the top assistants in the country and should be a head coach and will be a head coach,” Rhule said on Wednesday. “As guys are going in ‘hey coach this is a guy that fits you’. He kind of knows how I am, the way I want to do things, the process we’ll want to have, the character of the guys we want, the work ethic. So, he was able to tell me about them and then also tell them about us and what we’re doing here and kind of let us recruit from there.”
Brown played for Rhule at Western Carolina. He then coached under Rhule at Temple and Baylor. When Rhule moved on to the NFL, Brown spent a couple of seasons in his home state of New Jersey, coaching defensive backs at Rutgers.
Georgia came calling after the 2021 season and Brown answered. It didn’t take long for him to fit in. Kirby Smart said in the summer of 2022 that he felt he had his best staff yet at Georgia. Seeing as how Brown was one of the new pieces, that comment had to feel good.
“I love it,” Brown told DawgsHQ at The College Football Playoff Final media day in Inglewood, Calif. “Working with these guys, coach (Will) Muschamp, that’s my guy.”
Now those three guys who didn’t see their dreams realized at Georgia get a new start. The group includes outside linebacker MJ Sherman, mammoth offensive tackle Jacob Hood, and embattled tight end Arik Gilbert, who is at his third school.
Rhule believes that what they learned while under Smart’s watch will help them fit in and be a part of a turnaround at Nebraska.
“Even a guy like Arik, Jake Peats who I worked with, you know a Nebraska alum, he had had him at LSU,’ Rhule said. “A big thing when you bring transfers in, is why are they transferring? Why do they want to be here? I think all those guys, to me, are really good players and they have a chance to help us. They also have the right mindset to play at Nebraska.”
