ATHENS — Yes, Georgia-Georgia Tech is the embodiment of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate and all that. But for the families whose livelihoods are most closely attached to the outcome of this in-state rivalry, it’s something altogether different.
Take Jake Bobo and Harrison Faulkner, for instance.
You’d be right to recognize their last names as the same as the offensive coordinators at Georgia and Tech, respectively. They are, in fact, the sons of Mike Bobo and Buster Faulkner, and they are best friends.
They’re also kindred spirits when it comes to their relationships with their fathers. Being the son of a college football coach — and an offensive coordinator, in particular — is a special and challenging relationship. That goes double when one not only plays football but also happens to play the quarterback position.
Jake Bobo and Harrison Faulkner both play quarterback for their respective high schools in Oconee County. In fact, each of them will be in action in the quarterfinals of the GHSA state playoffs Friday night. Jake will be calling signals for Prince Avenue Christian School as it takes on Calvary Day in Savannah and Faulkner will be at the helm of North Oconee’s offense when it plays host to Cartersville at Titan Stadium.
Credit: Chip Towers
Credit: Chip Towers
Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m. Notably, that is the exact same time toe meets leather for Georgia and Tech at Sanford Stadium. This year represents a rare nationally televised “Black Friday” matchup between the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets (7:30 p.m., ABC).
So, as usual, Mike Bobo will not be able to see his son play in his school’s biggest game of the year. Neither will Buster Faulkner be able to see Harrison in action.
It comes with the territory, of course, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
“It just feels normal to me,” said Jake Bobo, a 5-foot-11, 200-pound senior for the Wolverines. “I mean, my dad tries to come when he can. He came last week, which was good. And he watches every single game (on video) when they’re not having meetings or anything like that.”
“I’m completely used to it,” said Faulkner, a 6-2, 175-pound junior for the Titans. “He can make them sometimes on bye weeks and things like that. Other than that, it’s nothing different for me. Playing at the same time as us (Friday), that’s a little different.”
This year’s Tech-Georgia game represents a rare head-to-head conflict with high school football. That is something that both universities go to great lengths to avoid. It’s about being respectful to high school football, which is held in such high regard in this state. And, of course, recruiting.
Actually, when ABC brokered Tech and Georgia last spring to move this game to Friday from its traditional slot of the last Saturday of the regular season, there was no conflict with high school football. Normally, Thanksgiving weekend is open on the GHSA calendar. Since schools are on holiday that week, it always has been reserved as a bye weekend as the state football playoffs transition from the quarterfinals to the semifinals.
But then Hurricane Helene ripped through South Georgia in late September. Hundreds of games had to be canceled as a result of that devastating storm. The GHSA’s solution was to push everybody’s schedule back a week. That meant playoff games would have to played on Thanksgiving weekend.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the teams agreed to move their game to Friday for “more exposure for both programs.” But they did so with the expectation that it would not conflict with high school football.
“The weather affected us. … Otherwise, this really would not be an issue,” Smart said.
Regardless, seeing their sons play beneath “Friday Night Lights” long has been an area of conflict for college football coaches. Sometimes the schedules work out between home games, off-weeks and recruiting trips. More often, it does not.
Both Jake Bobo and Harrison Faulkner said their dads made it to their games about “five or six times” this season. Because Tech played N.C. State on Thursday night last week, Buster Faulkner was able to make it to North Oconee’s second-round game against Ware County. Harrison Faulkner made it worth his dad’s while. He completed 12 of 18 passes for 280 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 89 yards on 12 carries as the top-ranked Titans (12-0) won 35-6 to remain undefeated.
“He’s actually made it more than he has in the past,” Harrison Faulkner said. “(Tech) had the two bye weeks and they played on Thursdays some. So, it’s been good.”
Faulkner is 153-of-218 passing for 2,775 yards and 36 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He has also rushed for 621 yards and six touchdowns on 82 carries and has seen his star rise as a college prospect.
Because the Bulldogs played at home in Athens on Saturday, Mike Bobo was able to catch Prince Avenue Christian’s 55-7, second-round win over Providence Christian the night before. He, too, picked a great night to watch his son. Jake completed 10 passes for 138 yards, including a 35-yard TD pass.
For the season, Jake Bobo is 64-of-97 passing for 1,162 yards and 12 touchdowns with one interception and has rushed for 242 yards and five touchdowns on 56 carries. The senior alternates with sophomore Ben Musser, who actually played a little more early in the season but has slightly less in the postseason. A tough, physical quarterback who starred at outside linebacker on Prince Avenue’s 2023 state championship team, Jake Bobo also was the backup quarterback last year to Aaron Philo, who now is starring as freshman at Tech.
“He’s one of my really good friends,” Jake Bobo said of Philo. “Every week all year I’d be texting him, ‘you gonna play this week, you gonna play this week?’ Finally, he started playing.”
He sure is. With senior Haynes King limited because of a shoulder injury, Philo has played in Tech’s past four games. Both Jake Bobo and Harrison Faulkner were there on the Flats on Nov. 9 when Philo helped the Yellow Jackets knock off then-No. 4 Miami.
Philo, the state’s career passing yardage record-holder, is expected to play Friday against Georgia, too. That would be his fifth game, effectively ending the possibility of redshirting.
Along with Brock Vandagriff, the son of Prince Avenue coach Greg Vandagriff, the Bobos and Faulkners organically have formed a sort of Athens-area quarterback club. They root for each other all year, except for occasions when respective teams meet head-to-head. That happened earlier this year when Georgia, where Vandagriff played the first three seasons of his career, played Kentucky in Lexington. The Bulldogs prevailed, but just barely, 13-12.
“It’s a close network,” Greg Vandagriff said of the local quarterback fraternity. “It’s kind of like professional wrestling. You’re friends outside, but when you step in the ring you’ve got a job to do.”
Jake Bobo and Harrison Faulkner became friends when their dads were thrown together in the offensive quality-control department at UGA in 2022. Buster Faulkner had been the Bulldogs’ chief analyst and co-quarterbacks coach since 2020 when Smart brought in Bobo from Auburn in 2022. When Todd Monken left for the NFL in 2023, Mike Bobo was promoted to Georgia’s offensive coordinator position and Faulkner accepted Georgia Tech’s offensive-coordinator job working for Brent Key.
Jake and Harrison got to know each other while their fathers toiled in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. They started out as teammates at North Oconee when the Bobos first moved back to Oconee County. A year later, Jake decided to go back to Prince Avenue Christian, where he attended school before his father became Colorado State’s head coach.
“Jake was at North his sophomore year, my freshman year,” Harrison said. “We still hang out weekly. He’s one of my best friends. I talk to him every day.”
Buster Faulkner still resides in Bogart with his family. But during football season, he generally stays in Atlanta all week.
“He usually comes home on Thursdays, so we hang out then,” said Harrison, who must share dad time with his two, volleyball-playing sisters.
Though Mike and Jake Bobo are sleeping in the same house every night, it also has been difficult for them to see much of each other, too. Mike’s oldest son, Drew, plays offensive line for the Bulldogs. He also has two daughters who play basketball. Meanwhile, the Wolverines’ schedule this season had them playing all over the place, in and out of the state.
Simultaneously, the Georgia Bulldogs were on the road a lot themselves this season. Six of Georgia’s first nine games were played outside of Athens.
Mike Bobo surprised his son once this season by showing up the night Prince Avenue played host to Franklin County. The Bulldogs were playing No. 1 Texas in Austin the next day.
“I was, like, ‘you’re coming?’” Jake recalled with a laugh. “He said, ‘yeah, I’m flying out right afterward.’”
The Wolverines won big that night, as they have most nights. Prince Avenue is 8-3 and ranked No. 2 in the Class 3A-A private division. Their losses were to out-of-state powerhouses and the other to Class 4A Blessed Trinity 23-21.
North Oconee is 12-0 and ranked No. 3 in Class 4A. Both teams are considered serious state championship contenders.
As for Friday, the quarterbacks of both teams know they must soldier on while their fathers do battle elsewhere. But that is something with which they’ve become accustomed.
“I’ve got to handle business; that’s what my dad told me,” Harrison Faulkner said.
Afterward, they’ll talk about the games they played. Or maybe they won’t.
“There’s not really any coaching,” Jake Bobo said. “He’s just like any other dad; he just wants to see what I did.”
Harrison concurred: “Honestly, we don’t talk ball too much.”
When it comes to the rivalry known as Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, there are no mixed emotions about the contest that will be waged between the hedges. Though the Faulkners have lived in the shadow of Sanford Stadium for four years now, there is only one outcome that will bring happiness to their household.
“It’s ‘Go Jackets’ for us,” said Harrison, who at 17 has lived in five states, thanks to his father’s vocation. “Growing up, we just root for whoever my dad’s working for.”
Present or not, these two dads will be rooting for their sons.
About the Author
