Darrell Wilson Hired as Defesnive Backs Coach

Rutgers announced the addition of new defensive backs coach Darrell Wilson to the coaching staff on Wednesday, filling one of the two positions Robb Smith had before leaving for the NFL. Wilson, who is from Camden, NJ, joins the Scarlet Knights after spending 11 seasons on Kirk Ferentz's staff at Iowa, and he brings a lot to the table for Scarlet Knights. He not only has a wealth of experience coaching  in the Big 10, which Rutgers will of course be joining in 2014, but a lot of success recruiting in the State of Rutgers (most notably in South Jersey) as well. This is a very good addition to the staff, and it signifies that Rutgers will promote from with in for the defensive coordinator vacancy.

Wilson began his coaching career as the head coach at Woodrow Wilson High in Camden, and he spent eight season there before moving on to Rhode Island, where he coached wide receivers and defensive backs. In 1999, he spent one season coaching running backs at Rutgers under Terry Shea, prior to becoming the outside linebacker coach and special teams coordinator at Wisconsin. He was with the Badgers for two years and he joined the Hawkeyes' staff in the same capacity in 2002. As a player, Wilson was a defensive back at Connecticut, and he played a few years professionally in the CFL.

At Iowa, Wilson had a very good run while having various responsibilities on the coaching staff. His special teams units were pretty good throughout his tenure, and he coached Chad Greenway up into a first round pick while he was the outside linebackers coach. In 2008, he began coaching all the linebackers, and Tyler Nieson and AJ Edds became all Big 10 selections under his watch. He served as an interim defensive coordinator in 2010 when legendary Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker dealt with a health issue, and he moved over to coach defensive backs coach in 2012. Ferentz is in the process of rearranging his staff, and he reportedly wanted Wilson to coach running backs, but he decided to accept the position at Rutgers instead. That's very understandable, given the AIRBHG.

The area where Wilson will help Rutgers out the most is in recruiting. He was named one of the 25 best recruiters in the nation in 2011 by Rivals, and he has very strong ties to the top high school programs in South Jersey, thanks to his Camden roots. While with the Hawkeyes, he was able to land quite a few players from South Jersey, including running backs Albert Young (Moorestown HS) and Shonn Greene (Winslow HS). He also recruited Pennsylvania and Maryland (he almost got 5 star OT Cyrus Kouandjio, who starts at Alabama, from there) while at Iowa, and a number of Scarlet Knight players have a good relationship with him from when he was recruiting them.

This move also seems to indicate that Dave Cohen will in fact be promoted to defensive coordinator. Nothing has officially been announced yet on that front, but they can only add one more assistant coach, and that will be whoever the new offensive coordinator is.

Wilson is a very good hire by Kyle Flood, and his recruiting prowess and Big 10 experience should help the Scarlet Knights a lot moving forward. Hiring a coach away from another BCS conference school for a similar position is kind of a big deal, as that is something that signifies your emergence into becoming a big time program. Wilson rounds out a defensive staff that is still very solid after Smith's departure, and he will have his work cut out for him in his first season, coaching what will be an inexperienced group.