Pine Bluff, AR. – Arkansas-Pine Bluff head football coach Doc Gamble announced five new coaches to the staff for the upcoming season on Sunday.
Aarion Savage will take over the safeties, Kendrick Nord will coach the quarterbacks, and Spencer Treadwell will coach the tight ends. In addition, D’Gary Wallace and Bradley Burrell will handle the role of the graduate assistants.
Savage is entering his first year with the Golden Lions as the safeties coach after spending time on staff at Georgia St. in 2019. He previously worked on the coaching staff at Army, Georgia Tech, and his alma mater, Auburn, and Georgia prep power Valdosta High School and Arkansas Tech.
Savage coached the UNI cornerbacks in his one season there, helping the program to a berth in the 2018 FCS playoffs and three victories over Top 25 teams. The Panthers ranked No. 6 in FCS with 18 interceptions and 17 nationally in scoring defense.
In 2017, he was part of a 10-win season at Army, where he served as a defensive quality control coach. The Black Knights won eight of their final nine games, capped by a victory over San Diego State in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Savage spent two seasons (2015-16) as the defensive backs coach at Division II Arkansas Tech, highlighted by a nine-win campaign and bowl victory in 2015.
His previous two years were spent in Georgia, and he served as a defensive graduate assistant at Georgia Tech in 2014, working on the defensive side with primary responsibility for the safeties as the Yellow Jackets capped a 10-3 season with an Orange Bowl victory.
In 2013, Savage was an assistant coach at Valdosta High School, where he coached the cornerbacks while teaching ninth grade. The Wildcats earned a berth in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs. Prior to that, he served two years in a quality control position on the staff at Auburn, spending one year each with special teams (2012) and defense (2011).
Savage was a Freshman All-SEC and Freshman All-American (Rivals) defensive back for Auburn in 2006. He missed the 2008 and 2009 seasons due to injuries, and during the Tigers’ national title season of 2010, he started the first seven games suffering before another season-ending injury.
Nord, a former Grambling St. quarterback, arrives at UAPB after serving as the offensive coordinator/quarterback coach/ at his alma mater since 2015. Nord served as the tight ends coach, and in 2012 he served as a student coach.
Also read: HBCU football preview: Will UAPB contend for a SWAC title in the fall?
Nord’s playing experience included a standout career at Grambling State before a professional career with the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens (NFL), Hamilton Tiger-cat (CFL), Iowa Barnstormers, and the New York Dragons (AFL) and RheinFire (NFLE). Kendrick was a three-year starter for Grambling State from 1993-1995 and made a rewarding debut during his sophomore season, passing for 1,987 yards and 16 touchdowns. He was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year and broke Doug Williams’ sophomore record. During his junior year, he broke Doug Williams’ record again with 3,017 yards. That same year, Kendrick played in one of the most exciting Grambling football games in the program’s history- Grambling vs. Alcorn State.
He passes for 485 yards and seven touchdowns in that game. Nord went on to claim 2nd Team All-SWAC, 1st Team All-Louisiana, and Louisiana Player of the Year and was also named All American. In high school, Nord played football and basketball. He was All-Metro- 1st Team, All-State and County. He passed for over 7,000 yards and threw 60 touchdowns during his career. He was highly recruited coming out of high school.
Treadwell is entering his first season with the Golden Lions after spending three years at Walsh University as the wide receiver coach. While at Walsh, Treadwell was in charge of the special team unit. In the summer of 2020, Treadwell was promoted to the role of Leadership Coordinator, where he is actively involved in the mentorship and development of athletes on and off the field.
Prior to his time at Walsh, Treadwell worked for Alma College as the Running Backs coach in the fall of 2016 before becoming the Scots Corners coach during the spring of 2017. At Alma, he was responsible for recruiting the Southwestern Portion of Michigan and the states of Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Treadwell received his first coaching post in 2015 when he was selected as the Quarterbacks GA at Kent State University, earning a Master’s in Sports and Recreation Management within the year. Before his coaching tenure started, Treadwell played collegiately for Miami of Ohio University and was a 2-year rotating captain. He earned his B.A in Sports Management from Miami in the fall of 2014.
Wallace, a two-time collegiate All-American, and sharp, young defensive mind, joined the Golden Lions as a graduate assistant on the defensive side of the ball.
At his high school alma mater, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Dayton, Ohio, Wallace had two stints for a combined three years (2017, 2018, 2020). He is fresh off of a 2020 campaign where he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Dunbar HS, where the Wolverines featured the first-ranked defense in the Dayton City League. In that season, they allowed just 159 yards per game and under 30 rushing yards per contest. With his aid, five all-conference players came from the ball’s defensive side, and the Dunbar HS program reached heights not seen in years. The Wolverines hosted their first playoff game since 1991, were named outright league champions for the first time since 2014, and played to its first playoff berth and win since 2016.
In his first stretch at Dunbar, the Wolverine program produced 20 all-conference players, seven all-state products, and two All-Americans. Two streaks were broken while Wallace was on staff, including its first playoff berth in six years and first playoff win in 11 years.
After the 2018 season, Wallace coached the defensive secondary and assisted with special teams at Cincinnati Christian University (NAIA-OH) before returning to Dunbar high school. While there, the defensive secondary made huge strides, doubles its INT total from the previous year, and shaving off at least half the average passing yards given up per contest.
Wallace played collegiately and earned his first coaching experience at another alma mater, Urbana University. He was responsible for the oversight over the defensive line (2015) and linebackers (2016) in two seasons on staff at Urbana. Wallace had a stellar playing career as a linebacker at Urbana, where he was named to All-America honors in his final two seasons. As a senior, he was named to the D2CCA and D2Football.com All-America Second Team and the Don Hansen and USA College Football Division II All-America First Team. In 2015 Wallace set five program records, including career tackles, career assisted tackles, total tackles in a single season, assisted tackles in a single season, and most tackles in a single game en route to being a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award for best defensive player in Division II. He also is the Mountain East Conference’s all-time leading single-season and career tackler in multiple categories, as well as a three-time All-MEC First Team honoree.
Burrell, a two-year letterman from Brooklyn, New York (2018-2019), played right tackle for the Golden Lions. Burrell started nine games in 2019, helping the program post its first winning season since 2012…offense ranked third in SWAC with 448.1 yards per game…helped to produce back-to-back 1,000 rushing seasons for RB Taeyler Porter for only the third time in program history.
Burrell will assist on the offensive side of the ball as a graduate assistant for the Golden Lions.
Courtesy: UAPB Athletics
