Familiar faces keep coming back to Georgia.
Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart announced Monday that Stacy Searels will be returning to Athens for a second stint as offensive line coach. Searels coached at Georgia from 2007-10 under Mark Richt, adding the title of running game coordinator in 2009.
When Searels was at Georgia the first time around, Bryan McClendon was running backs coach and Mike Bobo offensive coordinator. Since leading Georgia this past season to its first national championship since 1980, Smart has brought McClendon back as receivers coach and has hired Bobo as a quality control analyst.
Searels is a 30-year coaching veteran who has helped produce 25 NFL offensive linemen. He arrived at Georgia in 2007 after spending four seasons at LSU, which won the 2005 national title, and he left the Bulldogs for Texas, where he spent the 2011-13 seasons.
After his time at Texas, Searels coached at Virginia Tech (2014-15), Miami (2016-18) and North Carolina (2019-21). He reunited with Richt in Miami and has worked twice under Mack Brown, once at Texas and once at UNC.
Searels is from Trion, Georgia, and was an All-American as a 6-foot-6, 270-pound Auburn senior tackle in 1987.
Auburn’s Packer honored
Auburn sophomore center fielder Makayla Packer, who starred at Baylor School, was named Monday by the Southeastern Conference as the softball co-player of the week. The 5-foot-8 Packer hit .667 as the No. 20 Tigers won all six games to improve to 15-1.
Packer also stole four bases and is 26-for-26 for her college career in that category. She is leading in the SEC in runs scored (23) while ranking second in total bases (43), fourth in steals (10), sixth in home runs (5) and eighth in hits (22) and batting average (.478).
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.