The last piece of the defensive puzzle on Mark Richt’s staff was put into place with the hiring of Vanderbilt linebacker coach Warren Belin.

WARREN BELIN

Belin was named linebackers coach at Georgia after having spent the last eight years at Vanderbilt coaching the linebackers. Belin served as the recruiting coordinator for the Commodores for the last two seasons, and coached linebackers at SMU for five years before heading to Nashville.

“Warren has had some of the best linebackers and tacklers in the league for years,” Richt said in a statement. “I’ve always admired his work at Vandy and people have been talking to me about him for quite a while. When Todd (Grantham) and I interviewed him, we were very impressed with his knowledge of the game, schemes, and fundamentals. He’s going to be a perfect mentor for our players as well.”

After all, Richt would be the one to know, as his Georgia offense has had to face off against Belin’s tenacious linebackers on an annual basis.

Belin’s results are undeniable. This season, two of his linebackers were in the top 10 in the SEC in tackles — Chris Marve (second) and Patrick Benoist (eighth) — and Marve made the All-SEC second team. In each of the last five seasons, Belin has put one of his linebackers on the first or second team All-SEC teams.

That is a feat former linebackers coach John Jancek never accomplished.

It was a similar story for Belin at SMU, where each of his five years, one of his linebackers were named to the first or second team All-WAC team.

“I want to thank coach (Bobby) Johnson and the Vandy staff for eight great years competing in the SEC and everything they have provided me and my family,” Belin said. “I’m looking forward to the next step in my career with Coach Richt and the opportunity to compete for SEC and national championships. I look forward to working with Coach Grantham, Coach Garner and Coach Lakatos in installing the new defensive package.”