A former Georgia Bulldogs assistant is moving on to the NFL. Former Georgia defensive quality control Jay Valai was hired by the Buffalo Bills as their defensive backs coach, according to Matt Zenitz.
Valai has been a defensive backs coach for six years. He’s had stops in Rutgers (2019), Texas (2020), Alabama (2021), and Oklahoma (2022-25), even serving as the Sooners’ co-defensive coordinator.
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Before that, he was Georgia’s defensive quality control coach from 2016-17, the first two years of Kirby Smart’s tenure. The Bulldogs were ranked 31st (24.0 points per game) in 2016 and 4th (15.8 ppg) in 2017 in points per game. After that, he was the Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive quality control coach in 2018, before joining Rutgers.
As a defensive backs coach, he developed Tre Avery and Christian Izien at Rutgers, Caden Sterns and Jahdae Barron at Texas, Kool-Aid McKinstry, Demarcco Hellams, Khyree Jackson, Terrion Arnold, Brian Branch, Malachi Moore and Josh Jobe at Alabama, and Billy Bowman Jr. and Gentry Williams at Oklahoma. He will now help rebuild the Bills’ defense alongside new Bills’ defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Bills hire former UGA football defensive assistant
