FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo had a lot to say about his first season as Kirby Smart’s playcaller.
While the veteran offensive coordinator has plenty of experience calling plays, this was the first time he had done so for Smart.
In addition to speaking about his relationship with Smart, Bobo also provided his thoughts on Carson Beck, Ryan Puglisi an a host of other topics pertaining to Georgia football.
Below is a full transcript of what Bobo had to say while speaking to reporters.
On how practice has been for the Orange Bowl...
“Practice has been good. I think we’ve had two really good practices or three good practices — or three good practices. It’s been great. The guys are excited to play in a bowl game like the Capital One Orange Bowl playing against a very good opponent in Florida State and a very good defense. So we know we’ve got our work cut out, and for us to play well we’ve got to prepare the right way and our guys have done a great job preparing and getting ready for this game.”
On how Carson Beck let Bobo know he was coming back and his reaction...
“Well, obviously excited for the news, but we had been talking since the last ballgame about certain things. At the end of the day, it was getting him the information that he needed to make the decision. It wasn’t some big announcement. It was kind of a culmination of things leading up to that point. My conversations with Carson mainly have been about still preparing and finishing the right way this season. That was his decision, a family decision that he made. I wanted to let him know I’m his coach and am going to support him any way possible that he needs. You’re here. Let’s get ready to play our best and go out and finish the season the right way against Florida State.”
On how he will remember Brock Bowers if this is his last game…
“As a special, special player. He’s a guy that comes out every single day. He doesn’t say anything, just goes to work. The ultimate teammate, the ultimate competitor. Kind of a jack of all trades. He can do everything. He can block, he can run, he can catch. We didn’t have him throw any, but I think if we had someone to throw the ball, he could. A joy to coach. Just a pleasure to coach. Lucky to have the one year where I got to be part of coaching him and seeing him do something on that football field and how he affects our football team.”
On Georgia’s third-down efficiency rate this season…
“Well they’re fourth in the country on third-down defense, so we’ve got our work cut out against these guys. I think it’s the preparation and putting the plan together. Coach McClendon does a great job of kind of presenting our third-down package, and we decide what we want to run as a staff. He heads that up. We present that to our players. I personally think it has a lot to do with the way we practice. You know, Coach Smart makes sure we have the best look possible when we’re practicing third down. Some guys that are rushing for our defense, when we’re going scout team, Coach Smart brings them over and practices against us in our third-down period, which I think puts a lot of stress on us in practice. We see fast looks in practice, so I think when the game comes things slow down for us. We protected well. Carson gets rid of the ball quickly. He’s accurate when he throws the ball, and then I don’t know — later in the season I looked and I don’t know what it is now, but our third-down avoidance is low but our distance to go I think is not very high. I think it might be five yards or less, which gives you a better chance, you know, to be successful. Ironically in the last game we weren’t as good on third down, and they were short-yardage third downs, which we’d been pretty good at. It’s going to be another tough challenge for us this week. We know we’ve got to be good on third down to win the ballgame.”
On the buy in from the team ahead of the Orange Bowl…
“I think it’s been awesome. Our guys have done a great job up to this point of buying in, but that’s Coach Smart’s culture. That’s his standard. We all are individuals and all have egos, but we’re all the University of Georgia. That’s who we are. That’s who we represent, and that’s who we play for. I think those guys have bought in and they believe in that. It’s just not words — they believe in that and it’s important to them to wear the G and represent Georgia the right way. Guys like that are fun to coach.”
On where the offense made the biggest strides this season…
“I think each game is its own different game and each week is its own week. I think staying consistent [was big]. I think we got more explosive as the year went on, but I think that had to do with us getting some pieces back and becoming healthier. The thing I love about this offense is their resiliency. They don’t blink when things don’t go well. They continue to go out there and play hard, and things aren’t going to go well every time. Sometimes you have to punt. Sometimes you don’t score a touchdown, but we’ll get another opportunity. Let’s go out and try to score and be explosive. I think being able to not flinch and be resilient in moments when things aren’t going well — because that’s going to happen in a football game — our offense has shown that to me.”
On what he learned about this team this season and what excites you about next season…
“Well, I think this season has been fun because we’ve seen guys grow, we’ve seen guys step up in roles with their first opportunity playing this year. We just want to go out and we want finish off the right way in a New Year’s Six bowl game against Florida State who’s undefeated. When you’re undefeated, that’s a huge, huge accomplishment, and they’ve got a very, very strong defensive football team. So that’s our challenge: I want to finish out the right way.
As far as next season goes, that’s next season. I think everything we’re doing up to this point is to finish off the right way. For this senior class having a chance to get 50 wins is the most important thing on our mind right now.”
On where Carson Beck has grown the most this season…
“Well, there’s a lot of areas. No matter how long you’ve been in a system or how many years of experience you’ve got being in that system, I think his maturity has grown throughout the year. His confidence has grown. I mean, you can be confident, but until you go out there and do it on Saturdays, you still have to be able to feel that and go out and do it. I think his confidence in those areas has helped him grow. He’s had the talent, but I think it’s confident more than anything.”
On how Gunner Stockton has developed…
“Well, I think Gunner has done a great job in learning the offense. I think that’s been his number one development so far. He’s gotten more reps this year with the offense where last year he was on basically the scout team. But now he’s getting reps, and I think every rep you get you see growth. But just being more comfortable in the offense is his biggest growth.”
On Ryan Puglisi and what Bobo saw in recruiting…
“Big, strong kid with a live arm. Athletic, has some athletic ability. And a confident kid that wanted to come and compete at the University of Georgia, and I like that.”
Assessing his first season back as offensive coordinator…
“You know, I’ve been doing it a long time. I don’t think just being at Georgia whether I was coaching at Georgia or somewhere else. It’s calling plays, it’s having a great staff — which we have — going in there and putting a game plan together and hoping that your kids understand that game plan and go out and play well on Saturday. The ultimate goal is that, you know, to win every game, and we didn’t do that. But we have another game this Saturday against Florida State, and we’re excited about playing in that football game.”
On the transfer portal additions on offense…
“Well, they’re not here yet, OK? They’re not here, and I’m focused on this game and our guys that are here ready to play.”
On guys he is expecting to step up in the Orange Bowl…
“Well, I think we always have the same next-man-up [mentality] around here. That could happen at any moment at any time at any game. If somebody goes down, you’ve got to be ready. So we’re getting guys ready to go for this football game. I think we’ve got to be efficient on first and second down because this team we’re playing is a very, very good third-down defense. It’s going to come down to us being able to generate some explosive plays, and our quarterback’s got to put us in the right position and guys have to make plays when they have the opportunity.”
On the injury situation for Georgia…
“No, we’re close to being 100% healthy. There’s a few guys out there that have gotten a couple things, but that’s going to be up to Coach Smart and Ron Courson and our training staff who plays. At the end of the day, who’s out there is who we’ve got, and that’s what we go with.”
On what didn’t work against Alabama…
“I mentioned it earlier. We’d been good on third down all year, and ironically I think that game we had some third-and-shorts that we didn’t convert in the game where ultimately we weren’t able to continue drives and allow us to have more plays. But settling for three field goals in the red zone and turning the ball over and not being able to be explosive. I felt like we couldn’t get in a rhythm for whatever reason after the first drive. One, you’ve got to give those guys a lot of credit. They’re a good defensive football team, but that happens. Unfortunately we didn’t play our best and they played better than us. That happens in football.”
On if the short-yardage issues surprised him given Georgia’s offensive line…
“I mean, if you watch Coach Smart’s shows every week, he shows third- and fourth-and-1′s in our league and sometimes in the NFL and how hard it is to get a yard sometimes. I think sometimes people think, ‘Hey, it’s third-and-1. You automatically get it,’ and we’ve been very, very good at it all year. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and they didn’t go as planned in that game.”
On the leadership of the team leading up to the Orange Bowl…”First of all, Coach Smart is our leader. He sets a standard of us playing for the University of Georgia, representing the University of Georgia. These kids have bought into that and they believe that. There’s a great connection with our team. They love each other. The leaders want to go out and they want to play well for the University of Georgia. The seniors want to go out the right way, have a chance to win 50 games. They’re kids that love football. You get the chance to put the ball down and play another game against a great opponent like Florida State. Our kids are excited about that.”
On the difference it makes having former Georiga players on staff…”You’ve got a lot of guys that love the University of Georgia. Obviously went to school there, there’s some guys who went to school and played there. We love where we’re at and love what we work for and what we represent, the University of Georgia. Every time we get a chance, we want Georgia to be, have a chance to be successful when they play.”
On how special that situation is…”I think any time you have an opportunity to work at a place like the University of Georgia, first is an awesome, awesome thing. But then work at a place with guys that you, some guys I grew up with, some guys I played with I think is special. Obviously I have my son on the football team. That’s an awesome experience right now. Sometimes we’re so focused and narrowed in on our job and what we’ve got to do, sometimes we don’t see how lucky we are. The things you mentioned, being able to work with guys I played with, went to school with, now I get a chance to coach my son, I think it’s a special time.”
On how being Kirby’s OC has affected their relationship…”It hasn’t changed it. He’s the boss. I think that there’s a line there that I understand and respect that. He’s the head football coach. My job as an assistant coach is to be loyal to the head coach and try to do everything he asks and run the program that he wants to run. Our friendship, I don’t cross that line. We’re friends, our families have been friends for a long time. But he’s the head coach and I’m one of his assistant coaches when we go to work.”
On an area he wants to see Carson continue to improve on…”I think the more experience he gets, the better. Obviously this will be his 14th start. Very, very accurate at completing balls. I think we’ll work on down the field throws a little bit more and that’s not just him hitting guys in stride or on target, but that’s us finding ways to be creative and push the ball a little bit more downfield and having some higher success rate throwing the ball downfield.”
On Ladd McConkey battling injuries this season…”It’s a tough, tough young man. He’s been battling injuries all year. He’s one of our best weapons on the offense. It’s been a struggle sometimes to put gameplans together when you don’t know if he’s in or out. When he’s been able to go, he went and gave everything he had for the University of Georgia. Excited to see him out there in practice this week running around and making plays. I’m glad he’s back.”
On if he misses talking to the press every week…”No, I don’t. I was thinking about that the other day when I was walking through that little area where I used to have to stand and answer questions.”
On if he keeps up with Trey McBride and how many people have asked about him in relation to Brock Bowers…”I actually was texting with Trey probably less than a month ago, then with his mom. Trey McBride, it’s good to see him, he’s having a great season and coming on here lately. I don’t know if you’d compare anybody to Brock Bowers. Brock Bowers is such a unique player to me. He’s a tight end, but I think he can do it all. He can block, he can run, he can catch, powerful after the catch. His run after catch ability is unbelievable. Trey was kind of your more traditional tight end. Brock is kind of a jack of all trades. Two very, very good football players. It’s good to see Trey having success in the NFL.”
On the pressure he felt following Todd Monken and how he feels this season went…”I don’t necessarily think there was pressure following Coach Monken. I think there’s pressure in every job. I’ve heard the saying, I think Kirby might have said it before, pressure is a privilege. You’re at a place like the University of Georgia, there’s pressure for us to play well, for us to win. I think that’s part of the job. I think you learn to live with those pressures. Quite frankly, you welcome those pressures, those expectations. You want to be at a place where the expectations are high.
I worried about our own players sometimes this year with the pressures of winning so many games in a row, having to come back and three-peat, there’s a lot of pressure on those young men to go out and play well. At the end of the day, you still want them to go out there and have some fun. I’m looking forward to this game. We lost against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, we didn’t want that to happen, we’d love to be playing in the Playoff but we’re not. Maybe now we’ll see us go out and just have some fun in this game against Florida State.”
On Carson Beck making decision, ripple effects of that…
“I don’t know. I think he’s gotten better every week to me with more experience and more things he goes through as a quarterback. And then having to go through a loss and having to feel that sense of failure. But like I told him after the game, the other side of failure is success. You’ve got to keep getting yourself up and going out there. He’s had the right mindset. He is starting to trust guys more on our football team, and he’s had to do that. We’ve been so in and out of skill players this year, whether it’s Brock or Ladd or this or that. Learning to trust it, no matter who you’ve got to throw to, him learning to trust more than anything who’s out there.”
On putting a cast around Beck for next year…
“I don’t know that you can replace a Brock Bowers. Even when he wasn’t 100% he was one of our better football players and one of the better players in the country. But, as far as the free agency and the portal era we live in, it is what it is. What you can do as a coach is to continue to have relationships with your players and try to develop them and hope they stick through that process and realize that if they do, they’ve got a chance to kind of reach their goals. If they don’t, they have the options to do that. I don’t harbor any ill feelings towards anybody whether they stay or they go. I look at it as, ‘Hey, I’m your football coach. We’re going to come in here, we’re going to coach football, we’re going to try to work on that and develop a relationship, but I’m not going to get into your business.’ Which is sad. They’re still young kids and you want to help them out, but it is what it is.”
On Trevor Etienne…
“I don’t really want to comment on him yet. He’s not here. I want to focus on the guys that are here, getting ready to play this game like Kendall Milton who’s over there, and I’m really proud of how he played this year. Battled through some injuries to become one of our playmakers on offense. We’re getting ready for this game against Florida State.”
On Carson Beck as a leader…
“You see the skillset, saw it last year when I got here. He’s a guy that can make all the throws, I can see him processing plays quickly on the practice field and getting to the right guy through his progressions. Those sort of things. I think it was just a matter of him going out there and playing football games and getting starts under his belt. No matter how much you do it in practice and for how long, I think you’ve still got to go out there and do it on Saturdays. I think the big thing for him is he’s gotten more confident each each going out there and playing well. There’s a lot of things he can still improve at to be where he wants to be, and there’s a lot of things he has goal oriented, individually and as a team, that he still wants to accomplish in the future.”
On what he learned about Ladd McConkey…
“I wish I had him more. I know that. It’s good to see him out there practicing and healthy right now. Tough young man that’s battled through some injuries this year. You hate to see that in his last year, that he’s had to battle through all these injuries, but he’s worked hard to get back and get ready to play against Florida State this Saturday. I’m excited to see that. One of the best route runners that we have, he’s extremely quick in short area and then has great long speed. He’s good with the ball in his hand after the catch, a guy you can hand it to or throw it to. I’m excited to have him this Saturday for sure.”
On Brock Bowers...
“It was challenging at times to to know if he was in or out. When he was healthy, I think you had to make sure as a play caller you had to find a way to get him touches. It’s hard sometimes when a guy is playing a tight end position to find creative ways to get him the ball. But our staff does a great job of recommending concepts to get guys touches. And we all look at what guys are doing on scheme but at the end of the day, sometimes you have to think players over plays. If you do that you have a chance to be successful. Brock and Ladd are two guys that if you gave them a chance to touch the ball, usually you had a positive play.”
On Brock and Ladd not being healthy against Alabama...
“I look back at that game as we didn’t convert the third downs that we needed to convert in that ball game. We had been very good at converting third downs all year consistently and doing a good job of having third and manageable all year. In that game, we didn’t do well in that game and quite frankly it was third and 1s and third and 2s that we didn’t continue drives. Whether a guy is healthy or not, we’ve dealt with that all year, next man up. If they’re out there, they’re healthy enough to play. We didn’t execute in the right moments in that game to be successful. It was one of those games that was going to come down to executing in situational football in third down and red zone. We settled for field goals and then we turned the ball over in our own territory, which cost us.”
On if availability contributed to play calling in that game...
“That does every week. Whose available, what you might call. That changes every week availability because sometimes you think players over plays. But to me, that’s an excuse. We got our butt whipped to a very good football team. We didn’t make enough plays to win the ball game.”
On working for Mark Richt vs. Kirby Smart...
“I actually texted with coach Richt last night. He’s coming down to the game, him and Kathryn. Both are very, very competitive individuals. I think you have to be that way to coach at a place like the University of Georgia. Somebody asked a minute ago about the pressure, at the end of the day it’s very similar. Whether it was 10 years ago or now, the expectation at the University of Georgia is to win and compete for championships. Coach Richt was the same way as Kirby is.”
On Ray Goff...
“I got to see him a month ago or so. I’m very fortunate that Ray Goff recruited me and gave me an opportunity to play at the University of Georgia. Obviously, I didn’t finish my career with him when coach Donnan came in. A lot of people forget that coach Goff is from the state of Georgia, played quarterback at the University of Georgia, represented Georgia the right way. I know his coaching career didn’t go the way he wanted but a great man that I love dearly. Gave me an opportunity to come to the University of Georgia and get my degree and play there.”
On Dylan Fairchild saying Mike Bobo had something to prove...
“I don’t know, you’d have to ask Dylan that. Did he say I said that? No, I don’t know. I think you’ve got a point to prove every time you go out there. You want to be the best. Offensively, every time we don’t put the ball down, we want to go score. Now it don’t happen every time but I think maybe he’s heard me say that before. Let’s just put the ball down.”
On if he proved something this year...
“I don’t look at it that way. I really don’t look at it that way. I just try to go out there and get these guys ready to play for the University of Georgia. I’m very blessed to be back at the University of Georgia and have this opportunity and sit in this chair, call plays. But I’m also blessed to be in a room with great coaches that I have on this staff and I enjoy that every day. Going to work with those guys and coaching these young men. I won’t be happy until we don’t punt and score every time we touch the ball. But that just is what it is.”
