According to the ABC television affiliate in Columbia, S.C., the Pittsburgh Steelers have pulled from the college ranks to find their next receivers coach.
The Steelers have reportedly worked out a deal with former Georgia wide receiver Bryan McClendon, who also coached in Athens for nearly a decade.
The Steelers have been on a long search for a receivers coach. This past season, interim receivers coach Ray Sherman handled those duties after Darryl Drake passed away during training camp in August.
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McClendon played at Georgia from 2002-05, finding a ton of success in Athens.
After college, he tried out the NFL for a year with the Bears but quickly found himself coaching at Georgia in 2007 as a graduate assistant and staying until 2015. In 2009, McClendon was promoted to running backs coach under Mark Richt, a position he held until 2014, before switching to wide receivers coach in 2015. He also added other titles along the way, such as assistant head coach and interim head coach after Richt’s firing.
In 2016, McClendon was named co-offensive and wide receivers coach coordinator at South Carolina and in 2019 was named the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator.
Oddly enough, McClendon is the second former Georgia football player to get an NFL coaching job today. And even more odd, the other, Thomas Brown, also left a position at South Carolina to do so.
So to recap…the three assistants expected to leave Carolina are all taking solid jobs.
Bryan McClendon gets a crack at the NFL with the Steelers.
Same with Thomas Brown in LA.
John Scott gets a $200k raise AND a multi-year contract at Penn State.
All hard to turn down.
— Mike Gillespie (@MikeABCColumbia) February 9, 2020