Georgia hires Bama defensive backs coach Robinson, a recruiting powerhouse

Georgia coach Kirby Smart didn’t waste any time in signing former Alabama coach Nick Saban’s top assistant, Travaris Robinson, as his team’s co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach, the Bulldogs announced Saturday.

Robinson, 42, is widely regarded as one of the country’s top recruiters. He coached under Saban for the past two seasons and has previously worked at Miami, South Carolina, and Auburn, his alma mater.

“We are pleased to announce Travaris Robinson as our new co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach,” Smart stated in a release. “Travaris has 17 years of college coaching experience, including over a decade in the SEC mentoring some of the top defenses statistically in the NCAA.”

Robinson will work alongside Glenn Schumann, who has worked with Smart at Alabama and Georgia since 2008.

With Robinson’s hire, Smart announced that co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will transition to an off-field analyst job in 2024. Smart stated that Muschamp wishes to spend more time with his family. Whit Muschamp, Muschamp’s son, will be a freshman quarterback at Vanderbilt this season.

“We are excited about the addition of Coach Robinson and his family to the University of Georgia, while having the opportunity to retain Coach Muschamp and his family on our staff,” Smart said in a statement.

Muschamp, a former Florida and South Carolina head coach, was Georgia’s special teams coordinator in 2021 and assisted with defense coordination the previous two seasons. Back-to-back CFP national championships in 2021 and 2022, the Bulldogs lead the FBS in scoring defense (10.2 PPG) in 2021.

Georgia signed Alabama backup safety Jake Pope from the transfer portal on Friday.