Schumann and Muschamp describe working together to reload UGA's defense

Cooperation.

No matter what type of organization you’re talking about, if you don’t work with a cooperative spirit, you’ll never get the desired results.

That was the message Georgia co-defensive coordinators Will Muschamp and Glenn Schumann both conveyed during their session with the media Tuesday at the Butts-Mehre Building.

“When you’re here, whether it’s Year 1 or Year 7, a lot of stuff on a day-to-day basis, you really do cooperatively. That’s why it’s a staff,” said Schumann, who head coach Kirby Smart promoted to Co-Defensive Coordinator after Dan Lanning became the head coach at Oregon.

“Obviously, there are roles within a staff, you want people to complement each other. You can’t have one person do everything. You’ve got to be able to share responsibility,” he said. “Titles and people and things of that nature have changed, but the thing that remains the same is when we go in that room, we’re working to be on the same page.”

The same page is exactly where Schumann and Muschamp are.

“I knew of Glenn, but I really didn’t know Glenn until last year,” Muschamp said. “But I had a wonderful working relationship last year with he, Dan (Lanning) and Tray Scott, and obviously Coach Smart was on the defensive side a lot. We had a really good repertoire as far as what we needed to do to be successful and nothing’s going to change that.”

For Muschamp, his return to his alma-mater has been sweet.

Originally, his role was that of defensive analyst, but after Scott Cochran stepped aside, Muschamp assumed the role of an on-field assistant, coaching special teams and safety.

Once Lanning left for Oregon, Smart’s decision was simple – not only elevate his former teammate and longtime friend but also give even more responsibility to Schumann, considered by many one of the best young defensive minds in the country.

“Glenn’s promotion in my opinion was very well deserved. He’s an outstanding football coach, he’s extremely bright. He has a great repertoire with his players,” Muschamp said. “He’s recruited extremely well at his position, he’s just an outstanding football coach. He’s got a very good idea of what we’re doing defensively, how we adjust things out and is always looking for a better way to do it and researching those things.”

Per Schumann, their working relationship could not be better.

“We’ll do what’s best for our team,” Schumann said. “Obviously, when you get to a point where certain responsibilities have to be separate, you do that. But the majority of what we do is cooperatively on a daily basis, no matter what the roles are.”

Obviously, there’s plenty of work currently being done as it pertains to getting the Bulldog defense ready for the opener less than a month away against Oregon.

“Every year with the way offenses are going to attack you, things are going to change, so no matter where this defense has existed and who’s been in charge, it doesn’t matter what coaches have been here or the players, the goal has been to create a defense that can create problems for offenses, to answer the challenges they present,” Schumann said. “Every year they will look a little bit different. Our top calls every year are a little bit different. The way we use our personnel is a little bit different. You figure out who your best players are, what you need to do, and you do it as a staff, cooperatively, to give yourself the best chance on game day. You do that, you’ll have a good product.”