Charles Kelly has been named the co-defensive coordinator for Auburn’s football program.
Hugh Freeze announced on Friday that Kelly would be joining the staff and co-leading the defensive unit in 2024 and beyond.
A former player on the Plains, Kelly was the defensive coordinator for the resurgent Colorado Buffaloes in 2023. Along with head coach Deion Sanders, Kelly helped Colorado become the story of the early college football season before reality struck.
Kelly won several awards during his time in the Centennial State, most notably winning the 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year award in 2023. The long-time coach also was ranked in the top five the year prior.
The 56-year-old started his coaching career directly following his playing career at Auburn, coaching high school football in Alabama until accepting a job at Jacksonville State as the running backs coach in 1993.
The defensive coach made stops at Nicholls State, Georgia Tech, and Florida State before most notably becoming the assistant defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2019-2022.
Kelly now “comes home” to coach his alma-mater in a major transitional period for the Tigers.
He’ll bring four career conference championships and two career national titles to an Auburn locker room that is sure to have plenty of new faces next season.
Auburn’s newest staff member is certainly excited to be joining the team in 2024, stating,
“I am very grateful to return to a university and a football program that have meant so much to me growing up in this state and playing for Coach Dye. It’s an honor to work with Coach Freeze, whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for, and I’m appreciative of him for this opportunity. I look forward to helping Coach Freeze and this staff bring our program back to the caliber of championship football that Auburn deserves. As the Auburn Creed states, ‘I believe in work, hard work.’ I do not take this opportunity lightly and am ready to go to work. War Eagle!”
We’ll see if Kelly can help navigate a defense set to lose stars [autotag]D.J James[/autotag], [autotag]Marcus Harris[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaylin Simpson[/autotag] in 2024.
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