Glenn Schumann enters seventh Georgia season with expanded role as co-defensive coordinator

Glenn Schumann came in on the ground floor when Kirby Smart took over as coach of the Georgia football program and is still here entering year seven possessing a fresh national championship trophy.

After working under Smart for eight years at Alabama on the support staff including as an undergrad and then coaching inside linebackers for him at Georgia, Schumann’s new role as co-defensive coordinator with Will Muschamp is a big step up for a coach who is still only 32.

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That makes him the second youngest assistant on the Bulldogs staff, but it’s a defense undergoing major change after eight of its players went in the NFL draft in April.

“Every day we go out to practice and we challenge guys to get used to playing with other people,” Schumann said, “You have 48 guys here when you count scholarships and walk-ons on the defense. …We are trying to all grow, so we are preparing different people with each other and making people really comfortable, being uncomfortable. We’re not reliant on one person, we’re reliant on the whole team.”

Schumann and wife Lauren have started a family in Athens. They are parents of soon-to-be 3-year old son Bryson and 1-year old daughter Whitley.

Georgia ranked tops in the nation in points allowed per game at 10.2 — more than 4.5 points better than any other team — and second in the nation in yards per play allowed at 4.15 under Dan Lanning.

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His move from defensive coordinator to Oregon head coach puts him up against Georgia Saturday in Atlanta at 3:30 p.m. in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

Lanning worked closely with Schumann the last four seasons after joining the staff in 2018. Lanning was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2019.

“I think when we had an opportunity to hire him as coordinator, I knew he was going to do a great job,” Smart said. “Schumann was here at that time as well, and he and Schumann were really neck and neck the whole time and both took on responsibilities then. Dan would be the first to tell you he never would've had the success here he had if not for Glenn Schumann. That's what made the transition easier when Dan left. I felt comfortable Glenn would be able to take it over along with Will. It's always great when you have two guys that know the system and two guys that can share that responsibility.”

Smart didn’t say if Schumann would coach Saturday from up high in the coaches’ box where he has been on gamedays with Muschamp on the field.

“We'll decide that closer to the game,” he said. “Both of those guys will be very involved.”

The Bulldogs defense was hit hard by the draft particularly in the front seven.

It lost three rounders from the defensive line in Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt and No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker, but Jalen Carter, viewed as a possible top five 2023 pick, remains.

Schumann coaches the inside linebackers where he has helped develop two Butkus Award winners and helped churn out NFL draft picks (1st rounder Roquan Smith in 2018, 7th rounder Tae Crowder in 2020, 3rd rounder Monty Rice in 2021 and 1st rounder Quay Walker, 3rd rounders Nakobe Dean and Channing Tindall in 2022).

He has talent waiting in the wings now in Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon and has lined up players at the position for 2023 with commitments from three of the top 9 rated linebackers in Raylen Wilson, Troy Bowles and CJ Allen.

“I think he’s done an incredible job branding that position,” Smart said. “You know, specifically inside linebackers, because Monty was the guy that did it before, Roquan did it before. When you start looking, it’s pretty incredible what those guys have done. They’re a big part of what we’ve done, so they’ve done a good job.”

Dumas-Johnson hails from Hyattsville, Md., outside Washington DC and played at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. He struck up a good rapport with ‘Coach Schu,’ after the start of the pandemic.

“It was during the COVID time,” Dumas-Johnson said. “I had a great relationship with him. That drove it closer to here.”

Schumann, who lettered in football and basketball in high school in McKinney, Texas, is 19 years younger than the 51-year old Muschamp and the second youngest coordinator in the SEC.

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Ole Miss co-offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. is 29. Florida co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney is also 32, 15 days older than Schumann.

Smart said Schumann is “always trying to grow and get better.  He's never satisfied.  I think a lot of times you can get complacent, it sets in on all of us, this is what we do.  We don't want to be complacent.  That's just not what I believe in. We're always trying to find a different way to do it better. I think Glenn epitomizes that.”

That shows up with Schumann getting on his laptop to Zoom with NFL coaches, by picking up his cell phone to reach out to high school coaches.

“He's a sponge,” Smart said. “Doesn't think he knows it all.  Always trying to find a better way to do it, to reinvent himself as a coach.”

Georgia doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel with its defense. It year after year has shown to be one of the nation’s best under Smart.

“At the end of the day, the only way to actually be good on defense as a unit is to be a team,” Schumann said. “You’ll see great defensive players at places sometimes and say how did they have that guy, but they weren’t overly successful on defense. Our guys, no matter who it’s been since we’ve been here have taken pride in that aspect, and we do it well as a staff.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football DC Glenn Schumann one of SEC's youngest coordinators