Louisville completes football coaching staff with defensive assistant Grady Brown

The Louisville football team's 2018 coaching staff is complete.

The program announced Friday the addition of Grady Brown as a defensive assistant and recruiting coordinator. He fills the vacancy left by Cort Dennison, the former inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator who departed for Oregon last month.

Brown spent last season as the secondary coach at Alabama State and worked in 2016 as the defensive coordinator at Birmingham Southern.

Before those jobs, Brown worked for Louisville cornerbacks coach Lorenzo Ward at South Carolina, where Ward was the defensive coordinator and Brown was a quality control assistant and secondary coach from 2012-15.

“Grady Brown is one of the most professional and knowledgeable coaches I’ve had the opportunity to be around,” Ward said. “An outstanding teacher, Brown is very detailed in his instruction, which will be a tremendous benefit to our players.”

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Brown's title as recruiting coordinator is significant, as he replaces Dennison, who was the best recruiter on the staff and No. 7 in the ACC according to 247sports.com's rankings. Dennison had worked for Bobby Petrino since 2013 at Western Kentucky, and last month Petrino praised him for helping sign one of the best recruiting classes in school history. Dennison, along with others such as director of high school relations Stephen Field, helped cultivate the Cardinals' pipeline to South Florida in recruiting.

During Brown's last FBS job at South Carolina, he helped recruit four four-star prospects in four years, according to 247sports.com's composite rankings. He also recruited Jaire Alexander, who initially committed to South Carolina but then decided on Louisville and became an All-ACC cornerback.

With just five days until national signing day and three spots left in this year's class, Louisville's recruiting for 2018 is just about finished. But one remaining target is Marlon Character, the No. 1 junior-college safety according to 247sports.com's composite rankings.

Character has committed to South Carolina but not signed. He is scheduled to take an official visit to Louisville this weekend.

Brown was the cornerbacks coach at Southern Mississippi from 2010-11. He has also worked at LSU, Texas Southern and Alabama A&M, his alma mater. Brown participated in the NFL's Minority Coaching Internship in 2004 with the Seattle Seahawks and in 2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Hiring Grady Brown is an excellent addition to our defensive staff,” Petrino said. “A detailed technician, Brown is a bright, young football coach who boasts a lot of experience coaching. He does an excellent job in terms of teaching the players, and is a proven recruiter, which will be a tremendous asset in enhancing the talent in our program.”

The defensive portion of Louisville's staff now consists of Brown, Ward, new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, defensive line coach L.D. Scott and safeties coach Ryan Beard.

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