Former Southeastern Conference football coach Derek Dooley is calling a different kind of play: He is launching bid to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Georgia this cycle against Democratic first-term Senator Jon Ossoff.

A former walk-on University of Virginia wide receiver and University of Georgia School of Law graduate, Dooley spent three decades coaching football at the collegiate and professional level, including as assistant head coach at Louisiana State University and head coach at Louisiana Tech and at the University of Tennessee.

Son of the late legendary University of Georgia Bulldogs head coach Vince Dooley, Derek Dooley is trading in his headset to join a Republican primary field that also includes Representatives Buddy Carter and Mike Collins.

Dooley is a close friend of Georgia’s two-term Republican Governor Brian Kemp and is expected to win his endorsement in the GOP primary, a source familiar with the matter tells National Review. President Trump has yet to pick a favorite in the race.

“We need good, old-fashioned Georgia common sense,” Dooley says in his launch video, which leans into Trump’s record as well as his own father’s football legacy in Georgia. “Professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem. Lawlessness, open season on the border, inflation everywhere, woke stuff — that’s what they represent. We need new leadership in Georgia.”

The Georgia Senate race is expected to be one of the most expensive and competitive races of the 2026 midterms.

Watch his launch video here: