Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Packers hired four new coaches to Matt LaFleur’s staff for 2023, including new passing game coordinator Greg Williams. Here’s a look at the other three.
Matt LaFleur finalized his coaching staff on Friday in a release posted on the team’s official website. As expected, Greg Williams will take Jerry Gray’s place as the new passing game coordinator, which was first reported back in February.
You can learn more about the Williams hire here.
In addition to Williams, three other coaches are joining LaFleur’s staff. Here’s a quick look at the new faces that will help lead the Packers this upcoming season.
Farwell spent the last three seasons in the same role for the Buffalo Bills.
There were a lot of letdowns from the Urban Meyer experiment, but perhaps one of the greatest was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ struggles in the special teams department in 2021. Meyer’s teams have historically been known for great special teams, but it was a problem last season. New coach Doug Pederson hopes to rectify that, and he’s off to a good start.
According to a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Jacksonville has agreed to hire Heath Farwell as the team’s new special teams coordinator, a role he has held for the last three seasons in Buffalo.
The #Jaguars are hiring Heath Farwell as their special teams coordinator, per source.
Farwell, the former NFL LB and special teams ace, held the same position the past three years with the #Bills and now follows Doug Pederson to Jacksonville.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 9, 2022
A 10-year NFL veteran who played for the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks as a linebacker and special teams ace, Farwell was a special teams captain during his time in Seattle. His coaching career has exclusively centered around working with special teams, as he was an assistant for the Seahawks and Carolina Panthers before taking on a coordinator role for the Bills.
Under his leadership, Buffalo’s special teams unit has placed in Rick Gosselin’s rankings for the last two seasons. This is a very solid hire for Jacksonville as Pederson continues to flex his connections to build an impressive staff.
What do you think of this hire?
Notre Dame’s search for a new wide receivers coach went to many locations including a few midwest programs as Marcus Freeman originally tried to snag star recruiter Brian Hartline from Ohio State. Hartline instead is now the Buckeyes passing game coordinator and will take on Freeman and the Irish to start 2022.
JaMarcus Shepard of Purdue and Holmon Wiggins of Alabama both also interviewed for the job but at the end of the day it wound up going to five-year NFL veteran and Baylor wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey.
Source: Notre Dame expected to hire Chansi Stuckey from Baylor as its next receivers coach.
The Irish also interviewed JaMarcus Shepard from Purdue, but went with the former Clemson receiver with NFL experience. Stuckey impressed the Irish staff in his interview Wednesday.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) January 12, 2022
Stuckey played his college football at Clemson where he was both a quarterback and wide receiver before being drafted by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft. He played five seasons in the NFL for the Jets, Browns, and Cardinals before spending time in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts.
Stuckey is a big swing by Freeman and Notre Dame. Clearly, Freeman and Tommy Rees saw and heard things they liked from him as he has a very short coaching resume as he got started as a graduate assistant at Clemson in 2019 before getting promoted to an offensive player development role in 2020. He was hired as receivers coach at Baylor in January of 2021.
There are names out there that certainly have accomplished more as wide receivers coaches in the college ranks that Freeman seemingly could have hired. Ultimately who will do the most with the position at Notre Dame, not what have they done previously?
I’d be lying if I said I had a passionate opinion on the hiring but my guess is the Irish are getting a guy who sold his recruiting abilities extremely well after what Marcus Freeman said upon being introduced as the new head coach back in December. I’m guessing him recently playing in the NFL will help on that front for a position Notre Dame has had various struggles with in recent years.
Related:
Notre Dame coaching staff tracker
What Notre Dame coaches are coming and going in wake of Freeman hire?
When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU the fear among Fighting Irish faithful was that he’d be taking a good amount of assistant coaches with him. By doing so that would sting Notre Dame both in the present and in the future as not only coaches would theoretically leave and then current players and recruits would perhaps follow the coaches they have close relationships with as well.
That may have been the fear but so far it’s certainly not the case as to what has happened as one by one more Notre Dame assistants have been reported to be staying on the coaching staff as we await the University to confirm the reports of Marcus Freeman being the next head football coach.
If Kelly thought he’d be able to bring a good amount of the staff with him, so far it’s gone for him about as well as it did for Jerry MaGuire when he left to start his own agency.
Here are what we know so far in regards to Notre Dame’s staff and who is returning and who we do not yet know:
