Blake Shrader, a former safety at North Jackson High and Auburn University, has joined Georgia's staff as a quality control coordinator for Jeremy Pruitt's defense.
Shrader, 29, signed with Auburn in 2004 and played mostly on special teams during his career with Tommy Tuberville's Tigers. He helped coach Auburn for a couple of years before leaving to become a defensive graduate assistant at South Alabama.
His first full-time assistant opportunity occurred in 2013, when he was cornerbacks coach at Jacksonville State. This past season, he was director of player personnel at UAB, which was forced to shut down its program in December.
"I'm extremely happy for this opportunity," Shrader said Wednesday. "Obviously moving and relocating is not always fun, but I'm getting to work for one of the best in the business with Coach (Mark) Richt. Everything that I have ever heard about him has been 100-percent spot on.
"Coach Pruitt has done some outstanding things since he's been here, and I'm just really looking forward to this. It's great to be back in the SEC."
While his contract with UAB was winding down, Shrader knew Georgia was creating a couple of quality control positions and had a background with a couple of Bulldogs assistants. He worked at Auburn when Tracy Rocker was defensive line coach of the Tigers, and Shrader's father, Barry, was familiar with Pruitt from Pruitt's days at Plainview High and Hoover High.
Shrader will be reuniting at Georgia with linebacker Jake Ganus, who led UAB in tackles last year before transferring to Athens for his final season.
"Me and Jake are back together," Shrader said laughing, "and that's another plus to this."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.