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Former Wake Forest Standout, NFLer Aaron Curry Named Charlotte 49ers Defensive Line Coach

The fourth overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft joins the Charlotte staff full-time.

Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports

Charlotte's defensive line got a nice boost today as Aaron Curry, a former star at Wake Forest and the fourth overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draftwas named the team's defensive line coach.

Curry's profile was high when he graduated in 2009: he ended the 2008 season as the Butkus Award winner (given to the nation's top linebacker) and a first-team ACC and All-American pick. But despite being selected so high in the Draft, he retired in 2013 after a largely disappointing career with stops in Seattle and Oakland. He would later join the Charlotte 49ers' strength and conditioning staff in 2013 before being named a graduate assistant in 2014 working with the linebackers.

Curry and Charlotte head coach Brad Lambert, his defensive coordinator with Wake Forest, have maintained a very strong relationship since Curry's college days, so it's a natural fit for a former product of Lambert's defense. It also marks another chapter in what has been a busy past couple of weeks for the Charlotte coaching staff. Last week, defensive coordinator Bruce Tall left to join Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia as the Mountaineers' defensive line coach; he was replaced by former Texas Tech and Louisiana-Lafayette DC Matt Wallerstedt.

Along with Curry's promotion to full-time D-line coach, the 49ers brought aboard a key member of their inaugural team as a graduate assistant: Mark Hogan, who scored the program's first touchdown against Campbell on an interception back in August 2013.