UGA announces Will Friend as O-Line coach

It's official: Will Friend has replaced Stacy Searels as Georgia's offensive line coach.

Here's a statement from head coach Mark Richt:

"Will has played and coached under some outstanding, nationally-recognized offensive coaches. He comes with a formidable resume of offensive football knowledge and experience. I got to see first hand his work ethic when he was a graduate assistant on our staff and since that time he's developed into a seasoned, top notch offensive line coach."

And here's a statement from Friend (whom you can read about in the previous blog post):

"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to be the offensive line coach at Georgia. To have the chance to work with one of the top football programs in the country and with Coach Richt and the staff there is a tremendous opportunity for me. When I worked with Coach Richt and the staff as a grad assistant, I had a great experience and I always wondered if I might have the opportunity to come back to Athens. I am looking forward to getting to work."

UGA says Friend's title is just offensive line coach, so he apparently will not have the title of running game coordinator, as Searels did.

Two additional nuggets that UGA included on the release:

- UAB's average offensive output per game during the last two years comprises two of the three best in school history.

- Quarterback Joe Webb, now with the Minnesota Vikings, was the Conference USA player of the year in 2009 after rushing for 2,000 yards and rushing for 1,000 in back-to-back seasons.

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UAB head coach Neil Callaway, in an interview, called Friend "an outsanding coach" and wished him well in Callaway's former position at UGA.

“His dad was a coach. He’s grown up around football his whole life," Callaway said. "He does an outstanding job recruiting and relating to the players. A very smart football player and tough coach.”

One more from Callaway, on Friend replacing Searels, who left for Texas:

“I know Stacy’s a good coach. Everybody’s on his butt but Stacy's a good coach," Callaway said. "Will will do a good job and I’m excited for him and very thankful for the job that he did here.”