Kirby Smart’s new Georgia football defensive backs coach isn’t a name that was bandied about for the opening in most circles.

It is Southern California’s Donte Williams.

Georgia announced the hire on the football team's account on X, formerly Twitter.

"#GoDawgs," Williams posted to the social media platform," Saturday night along with a Georgia G and couple of dog emojis.

Williams earlier posted a message that he’s leaving the Trojan program.

“When one Chapter closes, another one Begins,” he wrote.

The 41-year old Williams replaces Fran Brown, who was hired after two seasons to become Syracuse’s head coach. Williams could join the Bulldogs during their preparations for the Dec. 30 Orange Bowl against Florida State.

Williams spent the past four seasons at USC under Lincoln Riley and Clay Helton.

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He was defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator the last two seasons. He was cornerbacks coach the previous two seasons and coached the same position at Oregon in 2018-19.

He played defensive back at Culver City (Calif) High School, Pasadena City College, Syracuse and Idaho State.

His other coaching stops included Nebraska, Arizona, San Jose State and Washington.

Williams was ranked the No. 2 recruiter in the Pac-12 in 2022 and No. 13 in 2023 by the 247Sports recruiting coaching rankings.

Southern Cal’s defense was one of the worst in the nation this season, ranking 120th in scoring defense and 119th in total defense.

The Trojans were 119th in pass efficiency defense and 115th in passing yards allowed at 255.2 per game.

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch was fired with two games left in the season.

Williams was interim head coach at USC in 2021 after Helton was fired, going 3-7.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football taps USC assistant Donte Williams as DBs coach