What Kirby Smart has shown so far in shrewd staff hiring, he's lacked in guileful disguise. The best example of this has been the apparent hiring of Alabama secondary coach Mel Tucker to serve as his defensive coordinator. Tucker has been the most likely hire for weeks now, for a variety of reasons.
For one, he's worked with Smart at Alabama, so there's a familiarity factor. Two, he has defensive coordinator experience, including extensive experience at the NFL level. Three, with Jeremy Pruitt moving to Tuscaloosa and likely coaching defensive backs there, it was looking like Tucker was a man without a post.