South Carolina football adds former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens to staff
COLUMBIA – South Carolina football's well of offensive knowledge got deeper.
The Gamecocks announced Wednesday the addition of former Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens as a senior analyst.
Kitchens served as interim offensive coordinator and senior offensive analyst with the New York Giants last season.
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"I worked with Freddie Kitchens previously at Mississippi State and have known him for close to 20 years," South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said in a school release.
"He's a fantastic coach with head coaching experience and coordinator experience. He's a long-time NFL coach who will be a great asset and resource for our program and will help us in so many ways."
This season will the first time in 17 years the former Alabama quarterback has coached on the collegiate level. Kitchens has spent the last 16 seasons in the NFL, most notably serving as the Browns coach in 2019, but was also on the staff of the Dallas Cowboys under legendary coach Bill Parcells and later with the Arizona Cardinals, who made a Super Bowl appearance during his stint there in 2008.
Kitchens worked his way up the NFL ranks, earning an offensive coordinator job with the Browns in 2018, his 12th year in the league. Playing quarterback with the Crimson Tide and working with NFL QBs, Kitchens began to cultivate a reputation for his instruction at the position, including Baker Mayfield.
Before spending time with Beamer in Starkville on Mississippi State's staff under Sylvester Croom, Kitchens has served as a graduate assistant for Nick Saban's first staff at LSU in 2000 before overseeing running backs at North Texas the following season.
South Carolina struggled to score points on offense for much of the 2021 season, Beamer's first year at the helm. The staff went out and upgraded personnel at some positions, headlined by Oklahoma transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler, who's skill allows offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield to scheme in different ways.
Cory Diaz covers the South Carolina Gamecocks for The Greenville News as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his work for all things Gamecocks on Twitter: @CoryDiaz_TGN. Got questions regarding South Carolina athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football adds Freddie Kitchens to staff as analyst
