ATHENS — Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo knows he is an easy target for fans to yell at.
That’s among the many reasons he was thrilled that Drew Bobo completed his one pass attempt in the SEC Championship game. He knew fans couldn’t yell at the younger Bobo for messing things up for Georgia.
The elder Bobo had plenty to say about the state of the Georgia offense, especially with Gunner Stockton now set to take over as the team’s starting quarterback.
Bobo dove into how the offense will look different, as well as a number of other thoughts on the state of his side of the ball.
Bobo will have to have the offense ready to go for its next game, as it takes on Notre Dame on Jan. 1 in the College Football Playoff. Below is a full transcript of what Bobo had to say to reporters on Saturday.
Mike Bobo speaks on QB Gunner Stockton, drops issues for wide receivers and the Georgia offense
On drops at receiver, if he’s ever experienced that, and how to fix it...
“I think, you’ve coached long enough, you’ve gone through things in your career that happens, whether it’s sometimes it’s fumbles, sometimes it’s interceptions, dropped passes. You want to continue to coach the fundamentals of whether it’s fumbling the ball, how to carry the ball properly. The specific question that you asked about dropping the ball, it’s the fundamentals of two eyes, two hands, seeing it, catching the ball, focus on catching the ball and getting it tucked. Sometimes it becomes a confidence thing, kind of like my putting. If I’m missing the short putts, then I overthink it, and then I can’t make a short putt. But just the routine of catching ball, day in and day out of what you do at practice. Obviously, we’ve tried to catch more balls, whether it’s jugs, whether it’s throwing to guys, throwing to each other, whether it’s quarterbacks throwing them extra balls. But repetition is the mother of all skills. So we’re going to continue to rep, catching that ball, getting it tucked, and building that confidence in practice that’ll lead to game day.”
On how Gunner Stockton has handled being QB1...
“He’s approached it just like he has all season. I can’t say enough for the way he started the season and approached every game. Which sometimes that’s just words that we say, you’ve got be ready. But his day in and day out, how he approached getting ready for the game as if he was the starter, I think has prepared him for this moment. If you asked me that last year, I don’t think he had that same mindset. We talked about it going into the season, you’ve got to prepare as you’re the starter every week. And he took that to heart, and he did an excellent job of that. Now, moving into this game prep, things are centered around him and his strengths and what he does well. That was the difference in weeks before where it was centered around Carson and what he does well with our football team. Now it’s centered around Gunner and what he does well. So things are a little bit more specific to him. Questions are asked to him, whether he likes this scheme or this play going into practice, and whether we carry it or not. We have those conversations where before it was with Carson, because he was the starter. So I think he’s handled it well, he’s preparing, he’s getting ready to play a very, very tough opponent, a very good defensive football team.”
On getting Gunner Stockton ready at halftime of the SEC title game...
“Well, it’s the nature of the beast in this game that we play, football. First of all, you felt bad for Carson Beck. One of the reasons he came back was to get to Atlanta and help his team win an SEC championship, and he did that. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to play the second half. But what he battled through this year to get us to that point, get us back to that game, back to Atlanta, and in position to win that football game. I know our first half wasn’t what we wanted offensively, but that’s why you play two halves, that’s why you play 60 minutes. So felt bad for him, but you had to turn the page quickly. We were kind of talking about what if, and waiting for the word, and found out he was out, and then kind of going over the plays that we were going to call, the opening drive of the third quarter, of what we’re going to do, and things that he liked in certain situations, whether it was red zone or third down. You’ve got the things that the guys, their favorites going into the game, and a lot of them on my sheet are starred of what Carson’s might be his favorite of what we have on the menu. So I had to go back over what Gunner’s favorites were for those situations. Then you address the football team, and talk about, hey, this is what we’re going to do. This is how we’re going to win the football game, let’s go do it. Everybody’s gott to do their job. And the guys were fired up to go play the second half. One, we didn’t play well the first half, but it was a ballgame, chance to go win the SEC Championship.”
On how helpful the extra time is for Gunner and himself to get ready for the Sugar Bowl...
“Well, I mean, I think anytime you have extra time to prepare it’s beneficial. And obviously a lot of that extra time we didn’t know who our opponent was, so it was getting getting back to basics not just for Gunner but for this whole football team and put him in a lot of situational football that we would have done for anybody. But it was a chance to get him more third-down opportunities, more red zone work, more two-minute work for the end of the game against our defense. So I think that extra time was beneficial that we got to kind of go back to camp mode and practice those situational football where he’s gotten a lot of it but not as much as your starter would get. So for him to get those reps against our defense, a lot of situations that Coach Smart put us in that can only help us in the game.”
On if Arian Smith kind of embodies this team with his missteps but strong responses...
“Yeah, I haven’t thought of it by that way, but I think, you know, we are a very resilient group as a football team and offensively, you know, kind of all year. It hasn’t been perfect and it’s never perfect, but it hasn’t been smooth. We’ve kind of embraced that, that things might get hard.
He has, you know, had a lot of tough breaks in his career at the University of Georgia with his injuries, with some drops before, but he continues to go out there with a good attitude and give everything he’s got. I just think about the one play in the championship game where his hustle and his cover down to recover that ball that I believe Nate fumbled, you know, led to, I think we only got a field goal that drive, but led to points, which was a difference in going into overtime against Texas.
Everything he does is full speed, and there’s a reason he gets thrown a lot of balls. He’s open. He’s the fastest guy on the field, and when he gets on the field people know he’s on the field. I know we want to catch every one of them, but sometimes when you put that pressure on the defense that here’s No. 11 in the game and you’re throwing that ball deep, it has an impact on them whether you’re catching it or not.”
On backup QBs Ryan Puglisi and Jaden Rashada and injury updates on Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson...
“The quarterbacks, they’ve been, you know, what they’ve done all year. They come in with the expectation that we’ve got to prepare like we’re the starter. I know I’m giving you the answer, but that’s true, what we do in our room. Now, they’ve got more opportunities because we’re down a quarterback. And with how we practice at University of Georgia, Coach Smart is going to continue to try to develop [them]. So, you know, throughout this whole bowl practice, ones, twos, and three, three groups are going. So now you’ve only got less quarterbacks repping, so those guys are getting more reps. So they’re obviously going to help their development.
They’re getting more reps. They’ve done a nice job. I think since day one to now, I don’t even know what day we’re on, you’ve seen good and bad every day. You’re seeing less bad and seeing more good, and they’ve got to prepare because you never know, knock on wood, what’s going to happen at any given moment for those guys to prepare to get ready to play. They’re up there meeting with, I think one of them is meeting with Coach Streeter. One of them has got a meeting with Coach VanGorder here in the next couple minutes, so the expectation of how they’ve got to approach every day, they’re rising to the standard that we set and they’re doing a great job.
As far as injuries, that’s a question for Coach Smart. I’m not going to comment on any injuries.”
On Carson Beck battling ups and downs...
”You know, obviously when you look at the stats, they aren’t the same stats as the year before. But, you know, the goal is, and you’re in this league, is to win the SEC championship and he was the quarterback of that team to guide us to that game and put us in that position. And everything’s not going to be pretty every game, but his resiliency throughout a game, whether it went good or bad, to overcome those things, whether, you know, of his own doing, of my doing as a play caller, of a drop or an execution, to be resilient and find a way to help us win football games in the fourth quarter says a lot about our football team and him, the quarterback of our football team.You know, we get into this society where we want everything to look perfect and look great, but I told him on several occasions, you’re going to grow more and you’ve proven more to me this year of your resiliency if things don’t go, not going well and finding a way to win games in the fourth quarter, I think, says a lot about him and his football team.”
On watching his son Drew play, the fake punt he executed...
“No, no. You know, you’re focused on your deal during a game. And then, you know, after the Auburn game, and, you know, realized that we played and beat Auburn. I know, you know, anytime you beat Auburn, whether it’s home or away, it’s huge.And that locker room, to share that moment with him was special and then have a start to next week against Mississippi State, you know, I really didn’t share with him until after each game when I watched the film in the locker room and then when I watched the film, but proud of him and proud of how he works hard and he’s a total team player.It’s funny, the fake punt, I was upset that we’re punting again and looking down at my sheet, what we’re going to do next. And I didn’t even realize the coach had said, hey, we’re going to fake the punt.I really didn’t even know Drew was the one that tossed it to him. Hartley hit me and said, ‘hey, we’re on offense.’ It wasn’t until after the game that somebody said, everybody kept saying, oh, your son with that pass. I really didn’t know what they were talking about. So it was cool to find out that, you know, it was a pass that he threw on that fake punt, which was, you know, a huge play in the game and glad he executed and didn’t screw it up. Then we’d have two Bobos everybody could yell at. (laughs)”
On Trevor Etienne...
”Well, we think he’s a special back that gives us a chance to hit a home run any time he touches the ball. Nothing more evident than that game, Texas. Run a simple zone play, the frontside defensive end kind of stuck his head in the wrong gap, and he bounced it outside. It was an explosive play. It kind of got that drive going. It got the offense ignited. So, you know, you wish he was would have been healthy all year. He’s kind of been in and out early in the year, and then the four or five weeks that he was out, you know, hurts you a little bit, but that’s football.The thing about Trevor that I love, you know, obviously he’s just been here one year, but he’s came in here with the right mindset. He’s embraced the team. He’s embraced whatever Coach Smart’s asked him to do, whatever I’ve asked him to do, whatever Coach Crawford’s asked him to do. It was a time for him to go play. He plays, and he plays for his teammates, which he just got to know his teammates, you know, six or seven months ago, and you can’t say enough about what a young man he is, and I think that part obviously is a great talent that can run and catch out of the backfield and can be explosive for us. But I think how he held himself and how he integrated into this culture of what Coach Smart has here at the University of Georgia says more about him and his impact on our football team than anything.”
On difference in coaching Gunner Stockton vs. Carson Beck...
“Yeah, that’s a good question. I kind of warned him early on in the first meeting that I’m going to be who I am. Don’t get sensitive to the way that I coach, whether it’s hard, but at the same time, coaching any young man, you’re going to find out how they handle things differently. You know, some guys might want to watch more films. Some guys might want to go walk through more, but I’ve got to be me, and my message to Gunner and really to any quarterback that I’ve ever coached is you have to be Gunner Stockton.You can’t try to be Coach Kirby Smart, Coach Mike Bobo. You can’t try to be Carson Beck. You can’t try to be Jake Fromm, Stetson Bennett. You have to be Gunner Stockton because I’m going to be Mike Bobo, and I want you to be Gunner Stockton, and if we’re who we are all the time around each other, I think that’s where the trust goes, and you can get further along in the relationship and get where you want to go on the football field if you handle it that way. And nobody’s trying to be somebody else.”On Georgia’s issues running the football and the frustrations that come with it...”You know, obviously, it is frustrating. We pride ourselves on being able to run the ball. I could sit here and give you a lot of reasons, but all they’d be is excuses, point blank. You could sit here and say injuries, you can say this, bottom line, excuses.We got to be able to run the ball if we want to continue to win in these playoffs. You know, I think the second half of that Texas game, one of the big things I said at halftime, I said, hey, we’re not just going to go out there and throw the ball. We got to get balanced, and we got to run the football, and I think those backs and those linemen took ownership in that and played hard and blocked for those guys, and we broke some tackles.You know, we got to find ways to move the ball on the ground. I think we’ve got a good offensive line that I think we’re the most healthy that we’ve been at offensive line, tight end, running backs, so I think that’s going to help us be able to run the ball, and then the commitment to the run. You know, we’ve got to be committed to the run, whether things are going good or things are going bad, to still run that ball, to help us be balanced and run and pass.”
