Mike Bobo has Kirby Smart excited about possibilities for Georgia passing game
Kirby Smart went with an old friend in his search to find Georgia’s new offensive coordinator this offseason. Smart appointed Mike Bobo to replace Todd Monken, and it’s a move that already has the head coach excited – especially in the passing department.
“Well he’s done a great job. He’s evolved,” Smart said. “We always evolve as coaches and I thought when he left Georgia, he had really been under Mark’s (Richt) system and what he created himself. Then he went out to Colorado State, that league was very different.”
“They had really good wideouts while he was there,” Smart continued. “They had four really good draft pick wideouts, had the guy who’s playing at Dallas now (Michael Gallup) and so he found ways to get guys the ball. He brought that with him when he came to South Carolina. He had Shi Smith. Then he went to Auburn. So I feel really comfortable about all the things he’s been able to do in the passing game, being creative. You’re always on the cutting edge trying to get better and I think when you leave your nest and go out on your own, you grow a lot more. He was able to grow and he’s going to bring that experience back to us.”
Bobo enters to an offense that was among the best in all of College Football last season. The Bulldogs were fifth in the country and second in the SEC for total offense (501.1 yards per game) and tied for fourth/second in scoring, putting up an average of 41.1 points each time out. While there absolutely are players that have to be replaced like quarterback Stetson Bennett, running back Kenny McIntosh, tight end Darnell Washington and two offensive linemen that were picked in the 2023 NFL Draft, Georgia returns three of its top five pass catchers including Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey who finished No. 1 and No. 2.
RELATED: Jesse Simonton shares on excellence of Georgia offense, expectations for 2023
Bowers pulled in 63 passes for 942 yards while McConkey was the only other player to catch more than 50 balls with 58 receptions for 762 yards. Both players had seven receiving touchdowns, tied for the team-high.
Top 10
- 1New
Jim Knowles
Ohio State DC is on the move
- 2
Chip Kelly
Two NFL teams emerge as suitors
- 3
John Calipari
Previews emotions of UK return
- 4
LSU TE viral dunk vs. Bama
5-star football player now hoops star?
- 5
Flau'Jae Johnson
Calls out South Carolina for playing late-father song
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
That’s not all for the pass catching options Bobo will have to work with. Georgia went and added two SEC proven receivers in the form of Dominic Lovett (Missouri) and Rara Thomas (Mississippi State) out of the transfer portal. Last season, each led their respective teams in receiving yards. Lovett hauled in 56 passes for 846 yards last season at Missouri while Thomas racked up seven touchdowns on 44 catches for a team-high 626 yards. Add in the likes of Arian Smith, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Dillon Bell and others and the Bulldogs have one of the best groups of pass catchers in the country.
Bobo, who also serves as the quarterbacks coach, is tasked with finding the next signal caller in Athens, but Georgia seemed well on its way to doing so this spring. Carson Beck exploded in the spring game for 221 yards and a score on 13-of-18 passing in the first half on G-Day working with the first team. He’s still in the heat of battle for the job against Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton but seems to have an advantage coming out of spring and into the summer.
“I felt like everything was working,” Beck said after the spring game. “You know, Bobo was really dialing it up. I just told him that afterward when we just talked. He was dialing it up, we were executing, guys were getting open, guys were catching balls, guys were making plays. You know, it’s really easy whenever we do that and we’re executing on all levels.”
“I mean, it was a lot of fun, you know? We do a lot of, like, situations in practice where we’ll move the field and try to simulate game-like reps and stuff,’ he added. “I’ve had a little experience with him calling plays, but obviously today it worked pretty well.”
