Ask Farrell: Which new SEC assistants will make biggest impact?

Some conferences don’t have many major assistant coaching changes, but that cannot be said about the SEC.

That conference has seen major moves on almost every staff, changes that could have an immediate and direct impact on winning and losing as at least eight former head coaches joined SEC staffs as assistants this offseason.

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MORE ASK FARRELL: Which new Big Ten assistants will make biggest impact? | ACC assistants?

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Bo Pelini is the new LSU defensive coordinator. How he works with coach Ed Orgeron and the rest of the Tigers staff will be interesting to watch.

Chad Morris, who went 4-18 and winless in league play in two seasons as Arkansas’ coach, is the new Auburn offensive coordinator and he remains one of the better offensive minds in the college game.

Former Missouri coach Barry Odom is the new defensive coordinator at Arkansas and Kendal Briles is the offensive coordinator. Coach Sam Pittman, who has never been a head coach at this level before, has compiled an interesting staff around him in Fayetteville.

Georgia brought in new offensive coordinator Todd Monken (a former Southern Miss head coach) and offensive line coach Matt Luke, the former Ole Miss coach, was hired in December so this will be his first full season and recruiting class.

More names to watch across the SEC: James Coley is the new tight ends coach at Texas A&M; South Carolina hired former Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo as offensive coordinator; Jay Graham is the new Tennessee running backs coach; Bush Hamdan is the new WR/QB coach at Missouri; Steve Spurrier Jr. is the receivers coach at Mississippi State; Chris Partridge is the new Ole Miss co-defensive coordinator at safeties coach; and controversial former Maryland coach D.J. Durkin is on the Ole Miss staff as defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator.

We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell to name a few new assistant coaches in the SEC he thinks will have the biggest impact on the recruiting trail and why he thinks they can be successful.

“I’m going to start with Arkansas, because I really like the hires of Odom and Briles. Arkansas is up against it in the SEC West and Sam Pittman has a major rebuilding job on his hands, but these are two very good hires from a recruiting standpoint as each brings different skills to the table.

"I like the hire of Bobo at South Carolina as well because he’s recruited at a high level before at Georgia and will help the Gamecocks recruit that state even better. Luke is a very good replacement for Pittman at Georgia along the offensive line and Graham and Partridge are big-time hires at Tennessee and Ole Miss, respectively. And the biggest recruiting hire of all in the SEC is former Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster at Florida because he will take recruiting to the next level under Dan Mullen.”