What happened to Stacy Searels? Exploring the reason behind Georgia assistant football coach's hospitalization

The Georgia Bulldogs have arrived in Miami for their Orange Bowl showdown with the ACC champions, the Florida State Seminoles. Coach Kirby Smart and his team were eliminated from playoff contention after losing the SEC championship game to Alabama earlier this month.

The game also brought an end to Georgia's 29-game winning streak. As the team now prepares for the bowl game, their OL coach, Stacy Searels, did not travel to Miami with the team. So what happened to searels?

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What happened to Georgia OL coach Stacy Searels?

According to an official statement released by the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday, Stacy Searels was hospitalized with pneumonia.

Thus, this is the reason why he is missing out on the Orange Bowl game and preparation. The statement also further clarifies that Searels is making a speedy recovery at Athens Hospital and is expected to fully heal in the coming days.

With the Searels recovering, offensive quality control coordinator Manrey Saint-Amour is stepping in to shoulder the responsibilities of coaching the offensive line for the bowl game. Amour has previously worked as the offensive coordinator for the FCS team, Charleston Southern. He joined the Bulldogs in the offseason last year.

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Stacy Searels' coaching career

Searels began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for his alma mater, Auburn, back in 1992. He then went on to coach Appalachia State's offensive line for seven seasons from 1994–2000 and Cincinnati from 2001–2002.

Stacy Searels went on to spend time with LSU (2003–06), Texas (2011–13), Virginia Tech (2014–15), Miami (2016-18) and North Carolina (2019–21). Prior to joining the Bulldogs earlier this year, he also spent time as their offensive line coach for four seasons from 2007 to 2010.

Last season, he was a part of the Bulldogs team that went on to win their second consecutive national championship. With Stacy Searels' absence from the Orange Bowl game, it will be interesting to see how Georgia performs against Florida State.

The bowl game is scheduled to be played on Saturday, December 30. and is expected to kick off at around 4 p.m. ET.