The Bulldogs’ offense is in great hands with new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, former Georgia OC Todd Monken said.
After the Bulldogs won consecutive national championships, Monken accepted the offensive coordinator job with the Ravens, returning to the NFL where he’d coached for six seasons. Bobo, on staff as an analyst, was promoted to OC, reassuming a position he’d previously held in Athens. His first tenure was highlighted by a 2014 campaign that saw Georgia score a school-record 41.3 points per game.
“Mike Bobo is a hell of a coach,” Monken told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He’s smart as hell. There’s a lot of things we did last year that he was a big, big part of. Same with the same staff that’s there. As long as coach (Kirby) Smart’s there, and they’re going to keep hiring good coaches, they’re going to win. They’re going to get really good players. And they’re going to continue to win at a very high level because he recognizes talented coaches and players. And he doesn’t let up. Like, that’s hard to do. I don’t know how he does. I really don’t. But he’s the reason. He’s the reason it is where it is. Make no bones about it.”
Monken believes Georgia will be “elite” on offense despite changes at coordinator and quarterback, where Carson Beck takes over for Stetson Bennett IV. Georgia is armed with one of the country’s premier receiver groups, an experienced offensive line and tight end Brock Bowers, arguably the nation’s best individual talent.
Notably, many of those who helped Monken’s offense remain, too.
“I’m telling you, Todd Hartley, the offensive staff – Mike Bobo, Buster Faulkner (who’s now at Georgia Tech) – a lot of really, really good minds,” Monken said. “A lot of people who added pieces to it. It makes it a lot easier. If you’re the only guy who can game plan, that makes it hard. But we had a lot of guys who gave input. You could give them parts of a game plan and they could run with it. It’d make you think about things and reassess what you were going to do with it, where you could put pieces and utilize them. That makes it rewarding.”
Credit: Chip Towers
Monken was constantly praised for his scheming at Georgia, though he refuses to accept full responsibility for what the Bulldogs accomplished (which included 38.6 and 41.1 points per game over the past two years, respectively). Monken always has stressed that it was a collective effort among coaches and players.
“It wasn’t my offense; it was the University of Georgia’s offense,” Monken said. “It’s Kirby Smart’s offense. Just like here (in Baltimore). This isn’t my offense. This is the Baltimore Ravens. This is John Harbaugh. This is what we do. This is what Kirby wanted. … You can’t do it without everybody else not seeing the same vision, understanding what you want from them, and then them putting up with your (expletive) all week.”
The Bulldogs begin the season Saturday against Tennessee-Martin. They’re trying to become the first three-peat champion since Minnesota in 1936.
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