After having the same attacking coordinator in his first three years at Georgia, Kirby Smart is now on his third in as many seasons. Jim Chaney had governments in 2016, 2017, and 2018. James Coley threw the “cow” of his tag and became the game changer when Chaney made a lateral move to Tennessee for a larger payday. Coley’s time at that place lasted one season before Smart came in Todd Monken officially performing Bulldog.
Monken has spent the past four years in the NFL, the first four with Tampa and the last with Cleveland, where he did not name the plays. Now he is back in college play for the first time since 2015 when he was the head coach at Southern Miss and had a pass for 4000 yards, two rushers of 1000 yards, and two receivers who received more than 900 yards.
Smart spoke to reporters via Zoom on Sunday prior to the Bulldogs’ first practice on Monday, where he was quick to point out that he had not been given the chance to give Monks another ton. However, there are a few things that stand out.
“Todd has brought a lot of energy to the offensive side of the ball,” Smart said. “He’s very demanding. He has an expectation of what it’s going to look like. And his job, and what he likes to do, is trying to do each individual job better than the next man. Can we perform a curve better than that? the other team can Can we do a curl? Can we run a dig route better than the other team can run a dig route? Can we coach those things better than the other team? And if we did things then we will have success. ‘
Expectations are sky-high for Monken despite the fact that he is facing a ton of change. Georgia will have a new quarterback behind center and it will likely be one of two transfers – Jamie Newman (formerly of Wake Forest) or JT Daniels (formerly of USC). He will also have to deal with a new-look offensive line, a receiving corps that is talented but green, and an unproven backfield.
But if you compare the unit to last year’s production, especially in the second half of the season, the bar is pretty low. The Bulldogs fought mightily in the passing game then Lawrence Cager range of pain. Jake Fromm was eliminated, the attacking line under executed, D’Andre Swift fought injuries, and things just seemed out of place.
No one knows how much will really change. Monks were able to keep much of the same mischief in place and focus on a higher level of execution. He could renovate almost anything. Many of those decisions will be made in the coming weeks. However you prefer it, Smart says he is not married to one style of abuse as the other. He wants points and wins, and whatever it takes to get those two will be fine with him.
Monks and the rest of Georgia’s staff have been trying to make up for the loss of the spring drills and the G-Day game due to COVID-19 in the last few weeks. They went through a ‘summer access period’ that essentially functioned as a mini-camp. The Bulldogs were unable to set up or practice full speed, but they did walkthroughs and got a ton of mental reps to help prepare for the start of practice.
There will be a lot to learn as practitioners begin, but junior offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer says that Monken has the information easily absorbed.
“He’s a great boy,” Salyer said. “He makes it easy for us and we try to go out and do our best.”
