This is probably not the hot take South Carolina fans want to hear from their new offensive coordinator’s former boss at Georgia ($$).
“There’s no doubt things will be different and hopefully better,” Richt said of South Carolina’s decision to hire Bobo. “That’s why you’re going through this change. I’m not going to say it could have the same effect as the hire at LSU, but let’s face it: (The Tigers) made a coaching change and things changed dramatically.”
Boom has never had an OC who’s been able to make lemonade out of the lemons Muschamp’s provided. If Bobo can do that, he’ll have done well, Brady or no Brady.
Get The Picture 
LSU caught lightning in a bottle with Burroughs. Are we supposed to believe he will have a Heisman winner every year?
I’m just sick of hearing that LSU has made this massive transformation. Lets see how he does next year without an excellent QB that has tons of experience.
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Yep….team game. It ain’t all on the play calling, the Dawgs were seriously handicapped at WR. Hard to make the offense work when the opposition is putting more in the box that can be blocked and you are forced to pass.
Especially when the WR are the weakest position group of the team. Gotta to have two to pitch and catch, players make plays.
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Gotta coach the players up. Those were very highly recruited kids we watched drop pass after pass and run sloppy route after sloppy route. You’re gonna miss your best WR’s no matter who your backups are but at Georgia, with this abundance of talent, there’s no excuse for this kind of drop off. That is coaching, 100%.
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Combination of things:
1) recruiting (skill positions)
2) maturity & development (WR)
3) game planning, or coaching. Maybe philosophy (approach-coaching)…..and situational play calling, really hurt us in ‘17 and ‘18.
And yes, I agree….we should have never been caught in this position despite the injuries and losing 5 WR a year ago. The cubbard should always be stocked at UGA. Beginning to lose our luster??….we’ll find out soon.
Beginning to worry about the recruiting positions in recruiting….and it hasn’t happened overnight.
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Also takes two to make the right read and not skip passes to said WRs when they’re wide open. You’re right about players making plays, especially if you want to be considered an elite QB. To paraphrase Yogi, the passing offense’s failures this year are 50% receivers, 50% QB, and 50% coaching.
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Disagree, more on the receivers than the QB. Not saying that Fromm was perfect, he made some mistakes….:all QB do. But most of it is on the receivers.
Can’t tell you how many drops have been made this year, how many routes were run the wrong way, how many times the receiver didn’t stretch out and make a catch.
I mean, even last game….there were 5-6 drops. Two of them should have been TD’s. When you have that, it’s hard to trust your receivers (INTS).
Again, Fromm wasn’t perfect….but he wasn’t 50% of the problem, that is stretching it. He didn’t forget how to be a QB, he just didn’t have the help he did a year ago.
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^^^This
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Just about every school not named Clemson or bama would be salivating to have our corps of WRs. We have talent. Bottom line is, the WR coaching was atrocious, as was the QB coaching.
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Name me two receivers that are healthy and can play right now (UGA) that would start for Oklahoma, LSU, Ohio State or a Clemson.
Let’s not also forget that Jackson also went down last game & that Pickens only played a half. Any QB would have struggled in the passing game.
Trade receivers with any of those teams and all of a sudden it is a different conversation.
If there is any blame to be thrown around, it’s that we did not stock that position as good as we did others…..& that’s recruiting & development, not coaching.
We were probably lucky to be 11 & 1 as decimated & thin as we were at WR this year.
I hope it doesn’t happen again.
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Forgot to also add Blaylock also going down along with Jackson.
Sometimes I think some just look at the stat sheet & not watch the game or watch the game and not understand what they see….
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Bobo is a take what the defense gives you play caller and that’s why he seemed predictable at times. Kirby and Coley thought Georgia would road grade through defenses this year and when defenses wouldn’t allow that Plan B was not developed well enough and the SC game happened which paralyzed Fromm. When a Bobo QB got in a rut they would go deep and see what happened.
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LSU also returned an experienced lineup on offense. In contrast, SC lost its top receiver, its top two backs, and its most experienced QB has transferred to Utah.
Recruiting is always job 1. This is especially true at South Carolina.
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Burrow was worse than Fromm last year. There was nothing in his performance to predict that he would be a future Heisman winner.
Also, Lincoln Riley says hello. He’s plugged and played 3 QB’s into his system in three years while maintaining a high performance offense.
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Yep. It’s certainly both players and coaching, but coaching can have a dramatic and immediate impact.
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They were all three senior or grad transfers with specific skill sets, though, am I right? You’re point is spot on, Lincoln Riley has a hell of a system, but it needs a little clarification. I don’t think he could put a Jacob Park, Faton Bauta, or a Greyson Lambert at QB with the same success. I’ll also ask: who’s the next man up for OU?
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Spencer Rattler, last year’s #1 QB recruit
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I thought about Riley, but really, Oklahoma would have multiple losses this year if they played LSU’s schedule. Hurts ain’t winning no Hesiman.
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Wonder how LSU’s offense would look next year if Fromm grad transferred in? More like what we had this year or what they had this year?
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What they had this year … there isn’t a damn thing Joe Burrow did this year that Jake can’t do. Burrow is a better runner, but if Jake had those receivers, he would put up those numbers.
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I agree 100%. Let’s see how good Brady is next year when Burrow is gone.
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“We rejoice in the present fact as though it came out of the ground by magic”
Burrow wasnt clearly the best QB in the country last year. He likely worked really hard and had some great help in keeping him accountable and progressing. And this year he might be the best QB to ever play at LSU. That is the level of transformation that most of these highly recruited players are capable of with proper coaching and motivation.
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He might be the best college QB to ever step on the field. I think he probably is. We’ll know after the CFP.
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From a QB standpoint Bobo has been used to making chicken salad out of Chicken sh*t.
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Oh yea and maybe Boom has had a Coach O epiphany.
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I would have liked to have Bobo back but it would have felt like some kind of nepotism or something. Muschamp having these three on staff if it does not work out will be akin to when Richt would not fire Martinez, et al at UGA circa 2009. If it works and they beat Florida and go 9-3 with a loss to us then I will be happy for everyone involved.
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You had me at “beat florida”
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How would you feel if the Cocks go 10-2, beat FU and Georgia and win the East? After all, they beat us this season without Bobo. I certainly am not too thrilled with that prospect.
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His guys as OC at UGA were Matthew Stafford (2006-2008), Joe Cox (2009), Aaron Murray (2010-2013), & Hutson Mason (2013-2014)
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So are we not getting a new OC? Is Luke going to be calling plays? Surely Smart can’t get blown out by an offense head coached by Orgeron and not learn his lesson…
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We aren’t getting Bobo or Morris. More than Bobo (and his recruiting) to USC, Morris at AU is not cool. Not. At. All.
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I don’t know why Morris is there — apparently Gus will still call the plays.
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My man, I would not underestimate Chad Morris potential impact on that Auburn offense. Keep in mind that Clemson took off when Dabo brought him in to run his offense.
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Actually, Clemson’s offense took off after Morris left for SMU. And our only real evidence of Morris’ offensive prowess is a period with some historic skill players at Clemson like Deshaun Watson, Sammy Watkins, etc…
He may be totally awesome, but you certainly can’t say for certain based on his time at Clemson.
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I am not convinced our personnel changes on offense are finished.
This goes for coaches, staff, and roster.
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Joe, why do you believe we will see changes/additions to our offensive staff? I want to believe this will happen, but I have hunch that Kirby will keep things the same and continue to dictate how our offense operates. This is just my feeling based upon zero evidence. Would love to hear your theory.
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Agreed. And hard to imagine any major changes before the early signing period considering Coley’s recruiting chops. Kirby moved fast when Pittman left for obvious reasons.
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I suspect there’s more to come after early signing day.
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I sure hope so. While I can see the argument for not replacing Coley at this time, there is no valid reason that we could not have added an analyst or what ever they want to call them to help with the passing game as well as a true honest to goodness QB whisperer. I would think that would be a positive not a detriment as we try to reel in some of the better pass catchers that we so desperately need.
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My gut feeling now is that one or both of Hankton and Hartley go, not just to free up room for a coach who could also have a “passing game coordinator” role, but also because TE recruiting has not gone well at all this cycle (and development was iffy) and Kirby’s complaint about WRs performance doesn’t sound a ton of job security for Hankton on the development / evaluation front either. But they’ll wait until after the early signing period to make the move (or longer, if raiding an NFL staff is a possible solution.)
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An embattled coach changing offensive coordinators after a losing season always works, and has worked for Boom in particular throughout his career. It worked for Boom in 2014. It worked for Richt in 2015. It worked for Bobo at Colorado State in 2018, it worked for Richt in 2018 and its working for Dan Quinn this year. In all those cases, the head coaches looked like geniuses and their teams had complete turnarounds the following year. Those repositioned deckchairs work wonders.
The gamecocks will rise like a phoenix in 2020.
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That scares me. If those idiots in Columbia will leave Boom alone he’ll finally get everything right. We need them to fire Boom before that happens. Bobo going to SC is very good for them and very bad for us.
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I can’t think of a single head coach or assistant coach at SC in the last 40 years whose market value increased on net between the time they arrived and departed at SC. If Bobo can give them a high octane offense, and return to head coaching in a couple of years, he will truly be one-of-a-kind.
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Of course they’re not going to churn out Heisman winners every year because that’s an absurd standard. But you’re flat out, indisputably wrong. Get your head out of the sand.
He was there last year and didn’t show out anywhere near like this year. It’s the offense… and Burrow is great.
We’ve got a great QB, but we got our asses kicked by an offensive style there’s no good reason for us to not be running.
Picture that scene from War Horse where the valiant, formidable mounted soldiers ride headlong into a bunch of machine guns and get totally annihilated. That was the SEC Championship. We’ve got Fromm sitting on top of a damn horse.
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Yep! Our horses cavalry did not match up well with their mechanized infantry.
Seriously though, you make a good point. No one expects year in and year out what LSU did this year. What people should expect is that you critically analyze what you are doing and HONESTLY access it with the eye on improvement. It is asinine to say that’s the way we have always done it. Just like all species, you change and adapt or become extinct. That also applies to the species Headus Coachus and Coordinatis Offensis. Adapt or get ready for extinction.
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You’re cherry picking some shit QB’s to make your point there.
And those Oklahoma QB’s had very different skill sets and he successfully adapted the O to suit each of them very well.
The next man up is probably a very good QB whose skills will be taken full advantage of. Wish we could say the same for Georgia.
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I’m guessing this was a reply to me. 🙂
Yes I did. On purpose.
To a degree. They were all three able to throw and run and had plenty of game experience. I would say LR finds QB’s that fit his scheme more than he schemes around his QB’s skill set. Here’s a Lincoln Riley quote:
“First you have to recruit the right one, then second you just coach them. They got to know they’re good enough, and if they don’t, then again you didn’t get the right ones,” Riley said. “They got to know they’re good enough, they got to have confidence in what you’re doing, and then you gotta trust them enough to let them out there and let them go play.”
ASEF mentioned Spencer Rattler, the quote above came from an article that featured him. He was a freshman running the scout team his year, 3rd behind Hurts. It will be interesting to see how much experience and maturity plays into OU’s offensive success.
TBH, I think UGA’s QB issues this year were due to lack of coaching and attrition at receiver as much as anything, and I think it did a number on JF’s confidence.
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Clemson had a walk on. Short but ultra quick in change of direction. His 3 cone was the best they had ever seen. And he had great hands.
So they designed some plays for him with a lot of human traffic cones and turned him into an almost automatic move the chains guy. And he was the guy they went to on the final play to win a championship in ‘16.
An offense can define a role for a position and find the guy that executes it best. Except maybe “best” isn’t good enough in those 1 or 2 elite games a year.
An offense can also figure out what a guys does best and make sure it uses it, even if it means some adaptation. And then you know you’re putting a guy in a position to succeed.
We’ll see how James Cook gets used next year. He felt like a round peg in a square hole this year. 44 total touches in an offense where “all the receivers sucked.”
If he is not consistently getting opportunities to make 1 guy miss and house it, then he’s being asked to shelve his best skill “for the good of the team.”
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Clemson had a walk on. Short, slight, good hands. Not your prototypical possession receiver.
He cranked out the best 3 cone time the program had ever seen. So the coaches put together some plays with some human traffic cones he could use and put him to work. He was the target on the final play of a national championship to win a title.
That’s adapting to what a guy does best rather than having a defined role for a position and having tryouts to see who runs it best.
That’s my issue with Cook. He had 44 total touches this year on a team where most would have you believe “the receivers sucked.” There was no way to use Cook more or better?
He’s a classic “get me in space so I can make 1 guy miss” back. It’s not his sole talent, and he’ll need to be complete to get a hard look from the NFL – but it’s his best talent. And an offense that bemoaned it’s lack of explosiveness never really leveraged it.
Maybe he just couldn’t execute plays either?
I’m baffled. Seriously. They can’t all be this inept.
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I agree with you to a point, but I’d say it’s easier to draw up a half dozen plays for a sure handed, quick guy and put him in the slot than it is to retool an offense for a QB who may start two or three years.
To your point, Deshaun to Renfrow worked very well for Dabo and not just on the play you mentioned. Renfrow had freaking gecko hands. It seems like i saw him having to shake the ball loose or have the official pry it off his hand, but that may just be my imagination.
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I apologize if this has already been mentioned, viewing on mobile sucks. But this reunites Bobo with Bryan McClendon and Thomas Brown right? I’d expect them to work pretty well together as they did in the past. So while SC might not be LSU 2.0 next year, I think they’ll show significant improvement.
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My point with Fromm’s fall out from 18 to 19 is as simple as his footwork got worse as the year went on. That’s inattentive steps that are ingrained through 3 years now. That should not happen. Actually his work under center as far as steps were much better than shotgun sets. It was like he lost the mental timing of footwork in the gun.
Also his follow through has disintegrated in to back foot throws. There was no zip as a step into and follow through no his throws. Look at film from 17’ he has regressed to almost a softball pitchers technique. That’s hanging back and never cutting loose and on the throw and rotating his thumb downward, could be a injury. ( since the blank page of info CKS gives at any press gatherings )
That’s simply called being on top of the throw. He was a Alabama commit so by no means should he be labeled a non talent. Those throws into the ground and short hopped were short armed. The long balls became floaters. He might not be a great runner but he was never allowed to be a threat on the read keep. Now that could be a channeling by the staff in we have no alternative.
Jake is a competent tough athletic young man. Think of one QB that regressed as much as he did from a National Championship to a almost SEC championship to a drubbing by LSU. ( mind you they are probably the best team in college ball and if they don’t win it will take TO’s and a suspect LSU defense to take it away from them.)
Coley May be a excellent OC if he had LSU receivers but those receivers did not get open on their own. There was a purpose to LSU’s maddening open receivers, picks, double crossing and x patterns. Coley is not a QB whisperer. CKS and Coley’s tree routes are of NFL types of routes where exceptional athletes out run, out jump and physically destroy a DB. Hence our big physical receivers did well.
The OL could pass block and block latterly but as fas as driving DL off the ball not so much. That does not count after the USCjr. started 8 men in the box which followed the remainder of the season. That left 5 on 8 with the TE and RB but simple math says that’s +1 on the D still.
CKS package offense was simple to figure out which if this set had these players this was their tendencies to run this set of plays. LSU first what 28 plays were run with the same personnel. When Zeus and James came in the ball game script their plays from game to game. Those sets had the same tendencies.
I don’t expect to have a robust recruitment period early but if the Dawgs show up and play in the Sugar. ( the time permeated allows basically another spring practice so a few new wrinkles could be added, we have already seen 3 TE’s go away and 3-4 really good Georgia backs that the Dawgs can see play in the East schedule against us. )
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