Falcons ST coordinator Marquice Williams will be Shrine Bowl head coach for the East team

It’s a well-deserved role for an impressive coach.

The Falcons’ coaching staff will be out in full force at the Shrine Bowl, as their staff will be responsible for the East team. It appears that special teams coordinator Marquice Williams will lead that group, as he has been named the head coach for the East squad.

Arthur Smith and Dave Ragone will serve in advisory roles, with linebackers coach Frank Bush taking on the defensive coordinator role and tight ends coach Justin Peelle serving as the offensive coordinator, per…well, the Shrine Bowl.

This is a great opportunity for a rising coach. Williams has presided over one of the more effective special teams units in the NFL each of the past two seasons, coaxing the best out of players both great (Younghoe Koo, Cordarrelle Patterson) and solid (Bradley Pinion, Liam McCullough). He’s worked his way up from Bill Walsh NFL diversity coaching fellowships with the Bears and Lions to an assistant special teams coach role in Detroit to special teams coordinator in Atlanta, and this is the kind of experience that will be useful for him someday if he lands a head coaching gig elsewhere. Given the Falcons’ special teams excellence, we selfishly hope that’s not coming soon, but Williams seems like he’ll eventually be in the mix for those jobs with the way his career is trending.

The only member of the coaching staff that we know will not be present at the Shrine Bowl is Charles London, who will be serving as an offensive coordinator in the Senior Bowl. Atlanta’s coaches will be working directly with some of the East team’s brightest lights, including intriguing Wake Forest wide receiver A.T. Perry, Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell, and Pittsburgh tackle Carter Warren.

Congratulations to the Williams and the staff, and hopefully they get a good look at some promising players who may wind up in Atlanta.