As co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Western Kentucky in 2022, Josh Crawford had a hand in the nation’s No. 2 passing offense with a quarterback in Austin Reed who threw for more yards — 4,756 — than anybody else in the nation

“I have so many good things to say about Coach Crawford,” Reed said after Crawford was hired three weeks ago by Georgia football coach Kirby Smart. “We stay in touch. He just texted me like a month ago. To see him get that Georgia job is just a testament to the coach he is, the recruiter he is and I think he’s a great fit for that spot.”

That spot is Georgia running backs coach, a position he last coached at Greater Atlanta Christian when he was on staff from 2010-12. He also has the title run game coordinator for the Bulldogs.

Smart interviewed Crawford, who coached wide receivers last season at Georgia Tech, for the wide receiver coach opening when Bryan McClendon left to coach receivers for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but hired him to coach running backs and brought James Coley back after a brief stint at South Carolina to coach the receivers.

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Smart said he “felt so strongly about him as football coach. I don't think you have to be any certain position if you're a good football coach. That was evident across the state, the places he's coached in our state. I have a lot of respect for the places he's coached, how he's done, and we think he fits our program.”

Those places on the high school level include Jefferson County, Colquitt County, Lee County, Valdosta and Colquitt County again.

Crawford was wide receivers coach at Colquitt County in 2016 when Daijun Edwards was a freshman.

“He’s serious, man,” said Edwards, the Bulldogs’ top rusher last season who is an NFL draft prospect now. “He don’t play. He’s a serious guy. He’s like real militant. He’s going to be on you. He got on them pretty hard.”

Crawford, a running back at Morehouse College from 2004-06 who got a Master’s degree from Georgia in 2012, described his coaching style to reporters last year at Georgia Tech.

“I talk about having the cheetah and the gazelle mentality,” Crawford said. “Every day when these guys come into the building, hey, their feet better be running. If you're that gazelle that’s out front running, there’s a cheetah right behind you ready to get you. If you come to practice and maybe you’re not sharp that day, your eyes are not where they should be and somewhere you’re not supposed to be and you don’t bring you’re A game, there’s somebody right there behind you that’s ready to get you.”

Crawford replaces Dell McGee, who left to become head coach at Georgia State. McGee coached the Bulldogs running backs from 2016-23 during Smart’s first eight seasons.

Crawford, like new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson, had familiarity with the way Georgia does things. Crawford worked under Georgia Tech coach Brent Key, a former Nick Saban assistant. Robinson came from Alabama and spent much of his career with Will Muschamp, who moved from a Georgia on-field assistant position to an analyst role.

“Coach Crawford is a guy we had on the radar for a long time,” Smart said. “He worked for Coach Key, who was also under a lot of the same things. I don't worry about the standard of excellence, the transition. They got to go out and do it.”

It’s a big transition at running back beyond Crawford leading the position. Kendall Milton and Edwards are gone and Florida transfer Trevor Etienne is the most established player in the room.

Crawford is working this spring with the likes of Roderick Robinson, Andrew Paul and freshman Chauncey Bowens.

Reed said Crawford will bring “energy and good vibes. He’s a great guy to be around in the building and he’s smart. People play well usually when they’re coached by him because people want to play for Coach Crawford.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: What Kirby Smart saw in Josh Crawford to hire him for Georgia football