Georgia football key support staff member departing program

Georgia football is losing a key behind-the-scenes member of Kirby Smart ’s support staff.

Neyland Raper, who worked his way up in football operations and served as director of football ops since 2021, is departing the program where he first worked in 2017, a team spokesman confirmed Monday.

Raper is expected to be hired to a football role with the Big 12, according to Matt Zenitz of 247Sports.

Raper, a Tennessee grad and native of Cleveland, Tenn., served as a football operations assistant in 2017 and 2018 at Georgia before a brief stint as assistant to head coach at Colorado under former Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker.

He returned as assistant director of football operations from 2019-2021 and was promoted in December of 2021.

As director of football operations, Raper was responsible for oversight of team travel, on-campus recruiting, budgeting and daily schedules of players and coaches.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football key support staff member departing program