Albany State completes football coaching staff

ALBANY, Ga.- Albany State head football coach Gabe Giardina announced Wednesday afternoon that he has completed the program’s football staff.

“I am extremely excited to be at full strength with the coaching staff,” Giardina said. “Everyone is very excited to be a part of the Golden Ram Family. These guys have hit the ground running and are doing a great job of emphasizing the family environment that we are creating within our staff and in the locker room. The fastest four months in football just got a great kick into another gear having all these new faces and energy around.”

Cory Peoples has been named the program’s defensive coordinator. Peoples spent three seasons as the defensive backs coach at Charleston Southern University. He played collegiately for the University of South Carolina (2001-2005) under head coach Lou Holtz.

“I had the pleasure of working alongside Cory for two seasons at Charleston Southern,” Giardina said. “He was a vital part in making us into a Top 10 defense at the FCS level in 2015. His vision for player development falls in line with all the things that we want our defense to be about. He develops guys fundamentally and will do a great job of having our guys play hard. From a schematic point of view, Cory has been influenced by coaches from all different levels. He has had multiple NFL internship opportunities as well as FCS and NCAA Division II experience to draw from as he creates the next chapter of “Dirty Blue Defense.””

Joining Peoples as defensive coaches will be Collins Ukwu, Darius Buck and Nick Reveiz.

Ukwu will be the team’s defensive line coach. He comes to ASU from Georgia State University where he was a defensive graduate assistant. He originally joined GSU in 2015 as a football operations intern. Ukwu played football at the University of Kentucky (2009-2012) and was a three-year starter at defensive end.

Buck will assume the coaching duties for the safeties. He coached that position for two years as a graduate assistant at the University of South Alabama. Before going to USA, he was an assistant coach at Jones County Community College. Buck played football at Southwest Mississippi Community College (2008-2010) and Murray State University (2011-2012)

Reveiz will be the program’s linebackers coach after a four-year stint with NCAA Division II perennial power Carson-Newman University. He spent his first two seasons at CNU coaching running backs. Reveiz played for the University of Tennessee (2006-2010) and was a three-time Academic All-SEC selection and team captain.

“Under the late Ken Sparks, Nick has been mentored by one of college football’s best program builders,” Giardina said. “He also had a brief stint in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Nick embodies what it means to get the most out of young people and is a tenacious recruiter.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Adam Hollifield will coach the offensive line, Sean Lampkin wide receivers and Adam Miller the quarterbacks along side offensive coordinator Isaac Newland.

Hollifield spent the last two seasons at Texas State University as a graduate assistant coach. He worked with the offensive line in 2016 after serving on the defensive staff in his first year. A native of Hoover, Ala., Hollifield played collegiately at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (2005-2008) before injuries ended his 2007 and 2008 seasons.

Lampkin was a member of the Charleston Southern coaching staff for three seasons before arriving at Albany State, serving as the video coordinator and assistant wide receivers coach. He played collegiately at Brevard College (2012-2014) and South Carolina State University.

Miller played football at Johns Carroll University (2008-2011) and was an offensive graduate assistant for Florida International University in 2016. From 2012-2016, he served as the head coach and director of football at Coral Springs Charter School.