Wes Johnson turned to a former staff member at an SEC rival who he saw up close for two years as a player at Arkansas to fill the vacancy on his Georgia baseball coaching staff.

New assistant coach Luke Bonfield, 31, will work with the offense, recruiting and the outfielders.

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Bonfield spent six years on Tony Vitello’s staff at Tennessee from 2000-2005 and spent last season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Pittsburgh.

Johnson was Arkansas’ pitching coach in 2017 and 2018 when Bonfield was an upperclassman outfielder. He was on a 2018 team that was the national runner-up.

“I’ve known him since his playing days at Arkansas and watched him develop into one of the best young hitting coaches in college baseball who has been a part of College World Series teams as a player and coach,” Johnson said in an announcement on Thursday July 30. “He is a tireless worker, a phenomenal recruiter, and we’re excited he’s joining our staff.”

Bonfield replaces Nick Ammirati who was hired as an assistant coach at Auburn after two seasons at Georgia.

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Bonfield at Pittsburgh coached at team that was 12th nationally in scoring (8.6 runs per game) and 13th in home runs (109) last season, finished second in walks (397) and was fifth in on-base percentage (.435).

Bonfield, from Skillman, N.J., went from student manager to director of player development to director of recruiting operations at Tennessee when the team reached five Super Regionals, three trips to the CWS and won the national title in 2024.

Georgia is coming off its first CWS appearance since 2008 and a season in which it won the SEC regular season and tournaments titles.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: What Georgia baseball coach said about new assistant coach Luke Bonfield