This is Clayton White's defense, and he'll need to be comfortable from a personality and coaching standpoint with any candidate that comes onto the radar.
As Shane Beamer put together his first staff last December and early January, we knew that secondary coach Torrian Gray was a guy that he was was heavily interested in getting on his initial staff. That hire, though, wasn't fully finalized until White was on board as DC and some coaching responsibilities were properly divvied.
Two other defensive assistants from Will Muschamp's staff in Tracy Rocker and Mike Peterson were retained by Beamer. When Rocker left for Auburn (and, subsequently, the NFL) in mid-January, Carolina found itself with another defensive line opening. Jimmy Lindsey, who worked with White for three seasons at Western Kentucky, was tabbed as the guy to coach Carolina's defensive tackles, with White heavily involved in that decision and process.
White also brought Ahmad Smith, who served as a defensive graduate assistant under him at WKU, to Columbia to serve as an analyst working in the secondary.
We say all that to illustrate that when it comes to finding a replacement for Mike Peterson, it follows that White is going to have a significant level of input.
It's our expectation, based on what we have been told, that White will be involved in the conversations that Shane Beamer has with candidates. We also hear that the plan is for the duo to talk with more than one candidate this weekend, although we do not yet know the identity of those coaches.
We did more checking on another candidate we first mentioned on Tuesday night, that being UCF's Kenny Martin.
There's plenty of familiarity here with Martin, Clayton White, and Jimmy Lindsey. Martin worked under White for four seasons at Western Kentucky and alongside Lindsey for three.
He was described to us as a "go-getter" on the recruiting trail, someone who has UCF legitimately in the mix for four-star types like Derrick Leblanc and John Walker in the 2023 class right alongside blue-blood programs.
Martin played defensive tackle in college and his coaching background in college is mostly at the same position. Jimmy Lindsey handles the tackles for Carolina, and it may be ideal to keep him there so that two different position groups do not have new coaches in 2022. Still, there is flexibility here in terms of shifting existing coaches around if needed based on a new hire.
We believe that Martin is in the mix in Columbia.
As Shane Beamer put together his first staff last December and early January, we knew that secondary coach Torrian Gray was a guy that he was was heavily interested in getting on his initial staff. That hire, though, wasn't fully finalized until White was on board as DC and some coaching responsibilities were properly divvied.
Two other defensive assistants from Will Muschamp's staff in Tracy Rocker and Mike Peterson were retained by Beamer. When Rocker left for Auburn (and, subsequently, the NFL) in mid-January, Carolina found itself with another defensive line opening. Jimmy Lindsey, who worked with White for three seasons at Western Kentucky, was tabbed as the guy to coach Carolina's defensive tackles, with White heavily involved in that decision and process.
White also brought Ahmad Smith, who served as a defensive graduate assistant under him at WKU, to Columbia to serve as an analyst working in the secondary.
We say all that to illustrate that when it comes to finding a replacement for Mike Peterson, it follows that White is going to have a significant level of input.
It's our expectation, based on what we have been told, that White will be involved in the conversations that Shane Beamer has with candidates. We also hear that the plan is for the duo to talk with more than one candidate this weekend, although we do not yet know the identity of those coaches.
We did more checking on another candidate we first mentioned on Tuesday night, that being UCF's Kenny Martin.
There's plenty of familiarity here with Martin, Clayton White, and Jimmy Lindsey. Martin worked under White for four seasons at Western Kentucky and alongside Lindsey for three.
He was described to us as a "go-getter" on the recruiting trail, someone who has UCF legitimately in the mix for four-star types like Derrick Leblanc and John Walker in the 2023 class right alongside blue-blood programs.
Martin played defensive tackle in college and his coaching background in college is mostly at the same position. Jimmy Lindsey handles the tackles for Carolina, and it may be ideal to keep him there so that two different position groups do not have new coaches in 2022. Still, there is flexibility here in terms of shifting existing coaches around if needed based on a new hire.
We believe that Martin is in the mix in Columbia.
