ATHENS — Former Georgia football star and Super Bowl champion Hines Ward has entered the collegiate coaching ranks at Florida Atlantic.

Ward will be working as an on-field coach at the Boca Raton school located in southern Florida for Owls’ head coach Will Targgert after spending the past two seasons as a full-time assistant in the NFL with the N.Y. Jets, per The Owls Nest website.

A teammate of Georgia coach Kirby Smart while with the Bulldogs from 1994-1998, Ward was best known as an All-SEC receiver.

But Ward also was a capable quarterback and setting UGA bowl records with a 31-of-59 passing performance for 469 yards in a 34-27 loss to Virginia in the 1995 Peach Bowl.

Ward is a native of Rex, Ga., and attended Forest Park High School. He joins Smart and UGA analyst and former Florida and South Carolina skipper Will Muschamp as members of the Ray Goff coaching tree.

Goff, a former SEC Player of the Year himself, recruited Muschamp, Smart and Ward during his tenure as head coach (1989-1995).

Ward, 45, was a third-round pick of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and went on to win two Super Bowls, finishing his illustrious career with 1,000 receptions, 85 TD catches and 12,082 yards receiving.

Per the Owl’s Nest, Ward will be working with receivers coach Joey Thomas at Florida Atlantic this season.