Brian Kelly is seeing his third different Georgia offensive coordinator in as many matchups.
Kelly's Notre Dame squad lost to Jim Chaney and the Bulldogs in 2017. James Coley's offense then took down Kelly in 2019.
Georgia heads into this week's SEC Championship Game with Todd Monken in his third year leading the offense. Kelly knows this unit is much different than the ones that came before.
"I think there's a little bit more wrinkles, if you will, on the offensive side of the ball," Kelly said. "I think maybe the offensive structure is one where there are more things to defend and make it difficult, especially with both the tight ends. The two tight ends make it very difficult because of personnel-ing it and they take away some of your calls from a defensive perspective."
This isn't the first time Kelly has mentioned Georgia's duo of Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington in the leadup to this game. He discussed their potential in his first press conference on Sunday as well.
On Thursday, Kelly put it bluntly.
"You have to game plan for them or they're going to wreck your day. I mean, it's as simple as I can get it," Kelly said. "(Bowers) does everything from getting handoff sweeps to screens, to verticals, to seam routes. I think Coach Monken does a great job with them. Washington splits out as a receiver. They're difficult to defend."
From Kelly's perspective, Georgia's offensive philosophy is simple.
It's one that Kelly believes the best offenses follow. The Bulldogs get the ball to their best players in position to make plays.
"This is the classic case of an offense that uses players over plays. That's good coaching, right?" Kelly said. "I think it's an outstanding quarterback, right, who is extremely confident and gets (the ball to those) that have been making plays. This offense has been successful because the coordinator is leading them and Kirby is leading them towards get the guy the ball that makes plays for us."
Other Notes
- Kelly provided an injury update on quarterback Jayden Daniels, who injured his ankle against Texas A&M.
"He's had a good week of practice. He'll play for us on Saturday," Kelly said.
- In other injury news, cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse has been cleared from concussion protocol. Kelly also said running back Josh Williams (knee) has been looking good in practice.
"He's such a physical runner. He plays so hard. His physical exertion and effort is one where he's not a guy that's going to go at less than 100 percent," Kelly said. "I think yesterday was really the first time where I felt like, Okay, we've got Josh back to where he needs to be, to be confident and effective."