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Dr. Saturday

Thu Feb 04 03:14pm EST

Urban Meyer's vacation to-do list: Hire new defensive coordinator

By Matt Hinton

Quick, Florida fans: Raise your hands if you can name your new defensive coordinator without looking. The two of you with your hands up, congratulations on your obsession. The rest of you, don't worry about filling up those valuable brain cells yet, because you won't be coming across George Edwards' name again anytime soon:

Less than a month after taking Florida’s defensive coordinator position, George Edwards is leaving to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, a UF coach confirmed to the [Orlando] Sentinel.

Edwards was officially hired by Urban Meyer on Jan. 8 and now leaves the day after the Gators signed one of the best defensive recruiting classes in history.

The Bills made the move official a few minutes ago. Very courteous of Edwards -- who hopped up to Gainesville from the Dolphins and hasn't coached a down in college since 1996 -- to delay his departure until after the Gators inked that chart-topping crop, which includes Rivals' No. 1 defensive end, No. 1 and No. 2 defensive tackles, No. 3 inside linebacker, No. 3 and No. 4 cornerbacks and No. 2 safety, for starters. He served his role -- [Dial highly-rated recruit] "I am the defensive coordinator. The staff is not in chaos." [Dial next recruit, repeat] -- exceptionally well.

Urban Meyer's long-awaited leave of absence is scheduled to begin today and run through spring practice, roughly, leaving it to offensive coordinator Steve Addazio to take over day-to-day operations around the office -- including, presumably, re-filling the position Charlie Strong presided over so effectively for the last five years. As East Division rivals Georgia and Tennessee can attest from their angst-ridden coordinator searches over the last month, takers can be hard to come by this time of year.

Of course, Urban can put off the "vacation" thing if they need him to hang around a little longer. He doesn't mind. Really. He doesn't, if Steve doesn't feel comfortable making that kind of decision ... OK, seriously, Meyer's back. Let's get to work. (Who had "six hours" in the latest leave of absence pool? Hint: This guy!)

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