Mike Bobo is back running the show at Georgia, to the extent of calling plays and scheming within the head coach’s ideology.
Those looking for a magic answer to the question of, “What is Mike Bobo’s offense going to look like for the Bulldogs,” are sorely lacking perspective.
Consider, the difference in Georgia’s offense from game-to-game and season-to-season with Todd Monken as coordinator.
Different quarterback, different game plan.
The Bulldogs went from throwing the football 10 times in the first quarter against Vanderbilt with JT Daniels as a starting quarterback in 2021, to Stetson Bennett throwing the ball 11 times in the entire game against Arkansas the next week.
So the first thing to consider will be which Georgia quarterback wins the starting job, and how Bobo designs the base of the offense around that player’s strengths and weaknesses.
RELATED: Huston Mason looks back to Bobo’s record-setting Georgia offense of 2014
Sometimes, however, it’s a matter of the same quarterback having a different game plan, such as when Bennett went from 37 passes in a road win at Mississippi State to just 19 passes the next week in a road win at Kentucky.
Monken worked hard to educate fans and media that how opponents chose to defend Georgia most always affected the play calls and run/pass ratio, to the extent the quarterback had the power to change the play at the line of scrimmage depending on the defensive look.
That will be another factor this season, as different quarterbacks will have different comfort levels and depths of knowledge to make those changes at the line of scrimmage.
Quarterback options
Bobo, like Monken, can scheme successful options — but it’s up to the quarterback to,
One, identify those looks and check into the correct plays, and,
Two, have the ability to execute the play
That’s why Kirby Smart weighed in this spring and tried to provide some insight for fans wondering what the offense will look like this season.
“A lot of times your offense is predicated off your quarterback play,” Smart said, " so how well will our quarterback play, and that’s the question.”
Bobo said much of the same things earlier this week in different ways, echoing the head coach that change is inevitable without the services of a 280-pound tight end and an experienced quarterback with the scrambling.
“We don’t have a guy that can possibly extend plays as well,” Bobo said.
“We don’t have a 6-7 280-pound tight end, so I think you’ll see some different things there and I think it would have been a little bit different anyway no matter who is standing up here.”
Here are 3 things from Bobo’s presentation that provide more insight into what is playing out in the closed practices:
1. Execution is king
Arm talent, mobility and leadership are buzz word attributes, but Bobo and Smart have made it clear that game management is a prerequisite.
“The bottom line for a quarterback, it’s can we execute,” Bobo said. “Are we going to be able to execute and get us in the right play, get us in the right protection, run the offense, handle third down situations, red zone situations, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Smart said the same thing at the start of camp.
“Each one of them has individual things they need to work on,” Smart said , “but for the whole I want to see them manage the offense, understand the offense, get people lined up and execute.
“The guy that does that best in critical situations will be the guy that becomes the quarterback.”
2. The 11 best
Getting the best 11 on the field sounds so cliche, but Bobo is more specific:
“There’s competition between the tight ends and the receivers,” Bobo said. “Are our tight ends going to step up and we’re still going to be a lot of 12 (two tight ends, two receivers, one back) or are we going to have to be more 11 (one tight end, three receivers, one back)?
“Those are the things that you’re figuring out through camp, and at the end of the day, you have to put the best guys on the field to give you the best chance to be successful, and then we want to build depth.”
UGA will maintain a variety of formations it applies at different times, under difference circumstances with different opponents. It would seem the three-wide, one tight end, one-back formation seems most practical with current person
3. Pick your horses
Kenny McIntosh, Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers were the go-to skill position players last season, in terms of yardage from scrimmage.
It’s a safe bet Bowers and McConkey will be heavily leaned on once again, but the backfield appears a bit more clouded with high-profile tailback Kendall Milton plagued by a hamstring injury.
There are other talented players, to be sure, with Missouri transfer Dominic Lovett the most likely new name to make a significant impact.
It will be up to Bobo and his offensive staff to scheme for those dynamic players, something Monken did very well with an experienced quarterback who was most often savvy enough to check into the right play calls.
“The shifting and motion of getting in some plays,” Bobo said, asked about takeaways from working with Monken, “and advantages of those guys (defenses) not being able to attack certain formations.”
One of the more intriguing storylines that has slipped somewhat under the radar was how Georgia added veteran offensive minds Darrell Dickey and Brandon Streeter to the offensive room.
Just as Bobo helped spice up the offense and solve some red zone issues last season working as an analyst, it’s a sure bet Dickey and Streeter will be providing valuable input into what promises to be — and has to be — a new-look Georgia offense.
