Aaron Murray reveals how Georgia will adjust to the big loss of James Cook

James Cook was the Georgia offense’s Swiss Army Knife in 2021. He rushed for 728 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior. Cook also caught 27 passes for 284 yards and four more scores. In total, that’s over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and more touchdowns than his other three seasons combined. Former Bulldog quarterback Aaron Murray says that that kind of production will be nearly impossible to replicate this season.

Murray discussed how the loss of Cook will impact Georgia’s offense in an appearance on ‘Always College Football’. He reminded Greg McElroy how invaluable of a weapon Cook was as a rusher and receiving threat.

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“What James did was a matchup nightmare. They matched him one on one on the outside. Anytime Stetson saw a linebacker run out with Cook, it was automatic. One one one whether it’s a hitch or go ball,” said Murray. “As we know now, it’s a matchup game…This isn’t a static game anymore…It’s all about how can I move a guy like James Cook and get him matched up in space against a linebacker or safety in space?”

Aaron Murray doesn’t think anyone in the Bulldog’s running back room can effectively recreate Cook’s production. With that said, he believes Kirby Smart and his staff will think smarter rather than harder. Murray believes they should use weapons like Brock Bowers to make opposing defense gamble. If they take away Bowers? That’s fine. They’ll just use that as their opportunity to find an advantage in the run game.

“They’re not going to have what they had with James Cook. I’ll tell you that. That’s why I think you’re gonna see more and more of a focus on getting tight ends on the field and getting to that 12, 13 personnel…If you want to play small and bring in a Nickel to take out your Sam or Will, then we’ll bring them in and run the football,” said Murray. “I think it’s going to be a lot of Georgia trying to play chess trying to figure out what they want to do personnel wise, how the defense is going to match that personnel, and then, from there, move those pieces around.”

Aaron Murray further highlighted how vital Cook was to the Bulldog offense. Even so, they can get creative in finding a way to replace him. Cook may be off to help the Buffalo Bills in their Super Bowl hunt and now Georgia will have to manage without him. If they play it smart, though, they’ll be just fine in trying to supplant him in Athens.