Brian Kelly is reportedly hiring an assistant coach off of the Georgia staff. LSU is “set to hire” Cortez Hankton, who coached Georgia wide receivers for 4 seasons, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Hankton, who turns 41 next week, was born in New Orleans and is a St. Augustin High School graduate. He was named All-SWAC twice as a Texas Southern wide receiver and played professionally in the NFL (2003-08) and UFL (2009-11).

Hankton got into coaching in 2012, getting his start as Dartmouth’s wide receivers coach. He held that position through the 2014 season. Hankton joined Derek Mason’s Vanderbilt staff in 2015 as the Commodores wide receivers coach. He remained at Vandy through 2017, before Kirby Smart hired him to be Georgia’s wide receivers coach ahead of the 2018 season. Hankton added the title of Pass Game Coordinator in February 2019.

Hankton’s departure was expected this week. FootballScoop reported on Monday that Kelly was targeting Hankton for the last on-field spot in his inaugural LSU staff. Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning was the first departure from the on-field staff of the national champions, accepting the head coaching job at Oregon but staying on to coach in the College Football Playoff.

It’s not uncommon to see staff departures after a national championship. Reports this week indicated there may be 2 more changes to the Bulldog staff for the 2022 season. We’ll see how it all plays out.