Marrone Hires Adkins as Offensive Line Coach and Recruiting Coordinator

Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone has hired Greg Adkins as offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. Known as one of the top 10 recruiters nationally, Adkins has 18 years of collegiate coaching experience, including the past six years at the University of Tennessee. Adkins also coached at Troy, Georgia and Marshall.

“Greg has been a part of a lot of great programs and he has won championships,” Marrone said. “He has recruited the type of players we are going to need to have success on the field in the future. Greg brings a wealth of experience in the offensive line position. I think offensive line is the second most important position beside the offensive coordinator. Greg is someone we are going to use in recruiting nationally. He has had great success recruiting. We never want to limit ourselves to the areas that are going to be our foundation. We also want to be sure to recruit great players around the country.”

At Tennessee, Adkins mentored 2006 All-American Arron Sears, who is a two-year starter for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2007 second-team All-American Anthony Parker, and Michael Munoz. At Georgia, he coached Jon Stinchcomb (New Orleans Saints), Ben Watson (New England Patriots), Randy McMichael (St. Louis Rams), George Foster (Detroit Lions), Jermaine Wiggins (Minnesota Vikings, retired in 2007), and Jason Ferguson (Miami Dolphins).

Included among the student-athletes Adkins recruited at Georgia are Boss Bailey (Denver Broncos), Champ Bailey (Denver Broncos) and Will Witherspoon (St. Louis Rams). At Troy, he recruited DeMarcus Ware (Dallas Cowboys) and at Tennessee, he recruited Erik Ainge (New York Jets), among other players.

“In recruiting, the bottom line is that we will be looking for the best players out there,” Adkins said. “Certainly we want to start as close as we can to the proximity of Syracuse University and then we will expand out from there. No matter where we have to go, we will do that to meet our needs for this first recruiting class and recruiting classes in the future.”

In 2007, Adkins guided a Vols offensive line that allowed just four sacks, which was the fewest in the country. Tennessee's 534 team passing attempts computed to one sack allowed every 133.5 attempts, far and away the leader of all major college teams. Such productivity helped the Vols offense to the triple milestones of a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver in the same season.

Adkins spent his first three years at UT as the assistant offensive line coach, primarily coaching the tight ends. He also built a national recruiting reputation as the school’s Director of Recruiting. During his first three seasons in Knoxville, UT signed players from 21 states and the District of Columbia. The Vols played in four bowl games during his six years in Knoxville.

Adkins came to the Vols in 2003 from Troy, where he was responsible for the offensive line while helping the Trojans make the transition from Division I-AA.

Before coaching at Troy, Adkins spent five years as an assistant at Georgia under Jim Donnan. He coached the Bulldogs' defensive line in 1996 and mentored the tight ends and the offensive line from 1997-2000. During his tenure in Athens, the Bulldogs posted a 40-19 record in five seasons and played in four bowl games.

Adkins coached a pair of NFL draftees on the Bulldogs’ defensive line – Jason Ferguson and Jermaine Smith –

and All-SEC tight end Larry Brown.

A native of Cross Lanes, W.Va., Adkins arrived at Georgia with Donnan in 1996 after spending 10 seasons at Marshall as a player and coach. Adkins was a part of 97 Thundering Herd victories during his decade there. He was a four-year letterman on the offensive line from 1986-89 and served as team captain during his senior season.

Adkins coached a variety of positions at Marshall, including the offensive line, defensive tackles and tight ends. In 1990, he helped with the transition of future two-time All-America selection Phil Ratliff from defensive line to offensive line. He also was part of the Marshall coaching staff when the Herd led the Southern Conference in rushing defense in 1992 and scoring offense from 1993-95.

In 1992, Marshall won the 1992 NCAA Division I-AA national championship with a victory against rival Youngstown State.

Adkins and his wife, Michelle, have two sons, Nicholas and Nathan, and a daughter, Natalie.

Adkins Coaching History

Year Team Position

2006-08 Tennessee Offensive line

2003-05 Tennessee Tight ends/Assistant offensive line/Recruiting coordinator

2001-02 Troy Offensive line/Recruiting coordinator

1997-2000 Georgia Offensive line/Tight ends

1996 Georgia Defensive line

1991-95 Marshall Defensive line/Tight ends/Offensive line