By Seth Rainey
It’s been a month of change for Georgia on the offensive side of the ball. Jake Fromm declared for the NFL Draft. Graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman committed to Georgia for his final season. Todd Monken was named offensive coordinator, causing James Coley to take a job at Texas A&M.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, Georgia staff members were on the road with National Signing Day looming over their heads. So what does all of the change mean for Georgia’s offense ahead of the 2020 season?
“I don’t know the answer to that,” said head coach Kirby Smart. “We’ll have to see where that goes. I think everybody wants to hear some grand speech of opening this up and doing that. That’s not necessarily what you need. What you need is to be productive offensively, score points, and do the explosive plays which we’ve talked about consistently.”
While Smart didn’t provide any real insight into what the additions may hold in store for the offense, history may be a telling sign of positive things to come.
Monken brings roughly thirty years of coaching experience to Georgia’s offense. The new offensive coordinator is coming off a one-year stint with the Cleveland Browns. Prior to that, Monken spent three seasons as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator.
The Buccaneers offense he controlled in 2018 led the NFL in passing and finished third in total offense. The Browns’ offense in 2019 was well-rounded, but head coach Freddie Kitchens called the plays, not Monken. Still, Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry both eclipsed the 1,000 yards receiving mark, while former Bulldog Nick Chubb rushed for 1,494 yards on five yards per carry.
Speaking of History:
Smart and Monken’s relationship dates back 15 years to the season Smart was on his way out of LSU, while Monken was arriving to be the passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach.
“Coach Monken and I crossed paths at LSU,” said Smart. “He came in with Les Miles' staff. I was there for, I don’t know, a month, three or four weeks before I came here. Briefly, we were on the same staff. We’ve crossed paths through our time at speaking engagements, recruiting on the road, the Southern Miss job. A lot of interaction in different ways.”
Monken had little to no impact on 2020 signing class:
Monken was announced as Georgia’s new offensive coordinator while the 2020 class was being wrapped up. Smart said his hiring didn’t have much, if any, impact on how the class ended up.
"Yeah, we're excited about what Todd brings to us," said Smart. As far as the recruiting process, he got involved on most of these late. Most of the work had been done on a lot of these guys. When you think about it, a lot of the wideouts, I think every one of them signed early, so that was not a major factor in this recruiting class. I'm excited about this class, and I think a lot of these guys are going to have the opportunity to grow and play at our place and I'm excited to see what they can do."
