Tag: Donte Williams

Trojans’ secondary coach Doug Belk ‘silently’ stacking recruiting victories for USC

Doug Belk might got get as many headlines as D’Anton Lynn or Eric Henderson, but he is earning his place at USC.

Lincoln Riley added Doug Belk to the USC football staff during his 2023 defensive coaching staff purge. Belk was asked to improve and transform a USC secondary which did not evolve or get the level of player development it needed from Alex Grinch and Donte Williams.

It shouldn’t be ignored that Taylor Mays got a lot out of the USC secondary in the Holiday Bowl, but that was in an interim capacity. Riley needed a heavy hitter to come in and change the back line of the USC defense. We haven’t yet seen Belk coach USC on a college football game day — his big debut is against LSU in a few weeks — but while coordinator D’Anton Lynn and defensive line coach Eric Henderson might have grabbed more headlines, Belk has silently gone about his business and showed what he can do in recruiting and player acquisition.

USC just received a commitment from Kendarius Reddick, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound four-star safety from Thomasville, Ga. Doug Belk did a solid job  was able to flip Reddick from UCF, another instance of USC going into the Deep South and getting a highly-rated player.  Reddick is a great addition to current 2025 commits Shamar Arnoux and Trestin Castro.

Belk has been on a nice run since his hire late in 2023.  He hung on to the commitments of Marcelles Williams, Isaiah Rubin and Braylon Conley in the 2024 class. If he can hang on to current commits: Brandon Lockhart, Madden Riordan and Joshua Holland while closing on RJ Sermons in 2026, the Trojans secondary can be elite.

He is speaking softly but is beginning to make his mark for the Trojans, improving the quality of the USC secondary.

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Donte Williams could be San Jose State head coach candidate

Donte Williams’ stay at Georgia might not last very long.

The college football coaching carousel continues to spin. Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama after Nick Saban retired. Jedd Fisch left Arizona for Washington. Then, Brent Brennan left San Jose State to go to Arizona, all in a matter of a week.

Now, the San Jose State job is open, and former USC interim head coach and defensive assistant Donte Williams has been mentioned as a candidate, per Andy Staples of On3.

Williams was at San Jose State was at San Jose State from 2013-to-2015 before brief stints with each of Arizona, Nebraska, and Oregon. He joined USC in 2020 and was named interim head coach after Clay Helton was fired in 2021. 

Williams recently left USC to take a job with the Georgia Bulldogs, so leaving a top program for the job at San Jose State might be a surprising move. Then again, being a head coach for a rising Mountain West Conference program would be a good opportunity for Donte Williams.

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USC interim safeties coach Taylor Mays makes huge impression in Holiday Bowl

Taylor Mays replaced Donte Williams, and USC’s secondary took a huge leap forward. You do the math.

In the cover photo for this story, you can see Taylor Mays — in a USC uniform — making an authoritative tackle for the Trojans against Penn State in the 2009 Rose Bowl. That was the next-to-last great moment for the Pete Carroll dynasty. (The last great moment was the 2009 win at Ohio State.)

Taylor Mays was one of the special players of a special era for USC football. This year, he had a minor role on Lincoln Riley’s staff but got a much bigger chance to directly coach USC players after the regular season ended. Donte Williams went off to Georgia to recruit for Kirby Smart. This enabled Mays to step in and teach USC’s safeties in preparation for the Holiday Bowl against Louisville.

Donte Williams out. Taylor Mays in.

USC profited in a very big way. The math here is undeniable. Taylor Mays made a big statement. Now let’s talk about what this means for USC in 2024 and beyond:

The Grinch didn’t steal the Holiday Bowl: addition by subtraction helped USC in a big way

USC’s departing coaches and players (except for Caleb Williams and a few select others) were holding the team back.

We saw on Wednesday night in the Holiday Bowl how important it was for Alex Grinch and Donte Williams to leave USC.

Luca Evans of the Southern California News Group pointed out before the Holiday Bowl that nearly one-third of USC’s roster was unavailable for this game against Louisville. Evans counted 20 of the 60 players listed on the 2023 depth chart as being unavailable for this game. That’s a lot of players. That’s a lot of depth to lose.

USC was thin. USC did not have a lot of options in this game. Miller Moss was the quarterback, and no one else, with Caleb Williams opting out and Malachi Nelson in the portal. Domani Jackson, Tackett Curtis, and lots of other notable names weren’t available on defense. This did not set up well for USC, at least not on paper. Louisville won 10 games this season and had a defense with a good statistical profile. Louisville’s offensive line pounded a Notre Dame defensive line which gave USC all sorts of problems.

We didn’t expect USC to win to begin with. After all the opt-outs and transfers, USC’s odds seemed to be even lower. After Louisville got off to a quick start, it seemed that the worst was about to happen.

Then everything changed.

USC showed resilience and toughness. We saw things from this group that we hadn’t seen since the blowout of Stanford on September 9. This was a completely new Trojan team. Where has this team been?

The answer: addition by subtraction brought forth this effort. We will explain in the tweets below:

Doug Belk will make USC fans forget about Donte Williams (and the recruits who left)

Doug Belk’s coaching will make it easy to let go of Donte Williams.

Doug Belk replaced Donte Williams at USC, becoming the new coach for the Trojans’ secondary. Donte Williams was a great recruiter, but his actual coaching did not give USC an edge on Saturdays in the fall. USC’s secondary was a profoundly disappointing position group on a very disappointing 2023 football team.

Doug Belk comes to USC from Houston, where he was the defensive coordinator under coach Dana Holgorsen. Belk is part of a defensive staff which gave up bigger roles and responsibilities to come to USC to join Lincoln Riley.

Matt Entz was a head coach — and a national champion — at North Dakota State. He gave that up to be linebacker coach for Riley and USC. Belk gave up a Power Five coordinator job to become a position coach at USC.

There’s a lot to talk about regarding Belk. Let’s begin that conversation by giving you a small sample of the reaction to his hiring, plus some analysis of why Belk is going to fit in nicely at USC:

Georgia has ties to USC transfer CB Domani Jackson

Georgia has ties to former USC transfer CB Domani Jackson

USC sophomore cornerback Domani Jackson is entering the transfer portal, per 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

The former five-star recruit out of Santa Ana, California, was rated the No. 2 cornerback in the nation, No. 1 player in California and the No. 15 prospect overall in the 2022 class.

The news comes a day after Georgia hired USC assistant Donte Williams to be defensive backs coach following the departure of Fran Brown to Syracuse.

Williams played an integral part in Jackson’s recruitment to USC and that relationship is something to watch moving forward. The Bulldogs could use a talent such as Jackson with the departure of cornerbacks Nyland Green and A.J. Harris to the transfer portal.

Starting cornerback Kamari Lassiter is expected to enter the 2024 NFL draft, leaving the Bulldogs with major questions in the defensive backfield ahead of next season.

Transfer players have until Jan. 2 to find a new home. There’s also a window during the spring (April 15-30).

 

 

 

Georgia hires USC assistant to coach DBs

Georgia hires USC assistant to coach DBs

Georgia’s void at defensive backs coach is no more with the addition of USC’s Donte Williams, who replaces Fran Brown (Syracuse).

Williams has spent the last four seasons with the Trojans, including the last two seasons as defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator. He served as USC’s interim head coach after Clay Helton was relieved of his duties in 2021.

“I would like to thank Coach Helton, Coach Riley, and all the amazing coaches I was able to work with and learn from these past four years at USC,” Williams shared on X. “I am also thankful for Mike Bohn, Brandon Sosna, President Folt, and the administration who were welcoming and extremely easy to work with throughout my time here. I am grateful for all of you. Thank you to the fans, donors, Rick Caruso, and the incredible alumni that looked after me and my family. Most importantly, thank you to the players for the memories and allowing me to coach you. When one chapter closes another one begins.”

Williams, 41, is regarded as one of the best recruiters in the nation and should thrive in Athens considering the level of in-state talent to work with.

Williams also brings a familiarity in recruiting in California and the northwest. Before his stint with USC, Williams served as Oregon’s defensive backs coach and helped lead the Ducks to a Pac-12 championship win in 2019.

Domani Jackson departure occurs right after Donte Williams’ move to Georgia

This seems inevitable, and it’s a price USC simply had to pay.

Domani Jackson and Malachi Nelson, two five-star prospects, are leaving USC. That stings. USC has fallen behind in recruiting for 2024 over the past several months. The Trojans were ranked in the top five at the end of June and were heading in the right direction on the trail, but they lost momentum in the summer and then lost even more ground when their 2023 football season didn’t pan out.

Now we are seeing the inevitable aftershocks of cutting ties with Alex Grinch and Donte Williams. Players who were recruited by Williams with the intention of playing for Grinch at USC are now in a very uncomfortable situation. Domani Jackson is a foremost example of this reality.

Donte Williams, as we all know, is a formidable recruiter who builds strong relationships with his recruits. Williams leaving for Georgia on Saturday being followed by Jackson’s transfer portal departure on Monday is not idle coincidence. Other USC players recruited by Donte Williams are bound to leave the program and enter the portal.

This might feel like a “sky is falling” moment for USC football, but it’s not that simple.

Let’s discuss this and other urgent issues during a busy and chaotic time for USC football:

Donte Williams immediately lands at Georgia after leaving USC

Donte Williams is now with the Dawgs in Athens.

The writing was on the wall for Donte Williams at USC when Alex Grinch got fired in early November. Williams had to have known back then — nearly six weeks ago — that he was not going to be retained by Lincoln Riley. A new defensive coordinator was going to insist on a new defensive staff. USC was going to get a new coach for its secondary.

Williams knew he had to line up his next move.

That move came on Saturday, right after Williams said his final goodbyes to USC.

Williams has been hired by Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, joining the Bulldogs’ staff as an ace recruiter. The reality of Georgia football is that Smart is a top defensive coach in his own right. He has two co-defensive coordinators, Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann, who have significant coaching chops as well. Williams can focus on recruiting. He does not have to be a spectacular gameday coach in Athens. The fit makes sense for Donte Williams.

Best wishes in your new job.

We’ll see if Georgia and USC meet in a College Football Playoff game in the next few years. That would be something.

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Social media reaction to Donte Williams leaving USC football

Donte Williams begins a new chapter in his coaching career.

While USC football did need a new and better position coach in the secondary, the sendoff for Donte Williams from Trojan fans on Saturday was poignant, moving, and most of all, appropriate.

Donte Williams did give a lot to USC. He was there for the school in the bad times, when the Clay Helton era ended and the program was in the middle of a miserable and irrelevant period in its history. Donte Williams improved USC’s recruiting. He built relationships with a lot of players. He enhanced the program’s image in the West and on a national level.

Williams took on the difficult, unwelcome responsibility of being the interim coach after Helton was fired in September of 2021. It was a thankless task. Someone had to do it. No one who took on that role was likely to be successful. Williams was willing to be the guy who took the heat in press conferences and interviews. He carried USC through that painful 2021 season until Lincoln Riley came in November of that year. Riley was so impressed with Williams that he retained him on his staff instead of cutting him loose.

No, Donte Williams is not an elite coach of technique, but he did give a lot to USC, and that’s what fans remembered first and foremost when the news of his departure hit the headlines.

Here’s a sample of the reaction from USC fans: