The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have turned to the Southeastern Conference for their offensive staff, bringing in Bryan McClendon, formerly with the Georgia Bulldogs, as their new wide receivers coach. McClendon, 40, takes over from Brad Idzik, who chose to join the Carolina Panthers as their offensive coordinator.
Having recently coached receivers and served as the passing game coordinator at Georgia, McClendon started his coaching journey as a graduate assistant at the same university in 2007, later transitioning to coaching running backs from 2009-2014. In 2015, he was promoted to assistant head coach, wide receivers coach, and run game coordinator, even serving as interim head coach and securing a win in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
After leaving Georgia in 2015, McClendon took on roles at South Carolina as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach, later becoming the offensive coordinator in 2018. He returned to Georgia as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator after a stint at Oregon from 2020-2021, where he served as passing game coordinator and receivers coach. McClendon briefly held a position as co-offensive coordinator at Miami in 2022 before rejoining Georgia.
Throughout his coaching career, McClendon has worked with notable running backs like Isaiah Crowell, Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall, Nick Chubb, and Sony Michel. His return to the Bulldogs came as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
In his new role with the Buccaneers, McClendon faces the challenge of a potentially younger wide receivers room, with Mike Evans entering unrestricted free agency and Chris Godwin in the final year of his contract. The team aims to develop emerging talents such as Trey Palmer and Rakim Jarrett at the wide receiver position.