WATCH: Dell McGee and Mike Bobo

On Branson Robinson and his progress in fall camp...

“First off, Branson had a really tremendous spring practice. Unfortunately, he got injured during the spring. He’s done a really, really good job of getting treatment and taking the mental part of his game to the next level because he physically couldn’t do anything. He’s been a really good leader. He’s been exceptional in the classroom and also leading some of the younger guys, in reference Rod Rob, and kind of being a mentor to him. I’m very pleased with his progress. It’s really exciting to see him back on the field, starting to move around a little bit. When we go through practice and have our walkthroughs, we’re able to get almost close to full speed reps without all the banging and clanging. It’s very good to see Branson back on the football field.”

On being reunited with Mike Bobo...

“Mike’s a tremendous coach. It’s really not reunited, he was here last year. He was a sponge under Coach Monken. He’s going to do a tremendous job for us. I think the way we’re geared and structured under Coach Smart, we didn’t change a lot from a philosophical standpoint. We’re still status quo on what we’re going to do. Our kids didn’t have to do a lot of learning. Coach Bobo’s definitely going to implement his style. He’ll have his way of doing things and calling plays. But in terms of, we’ll still find out who the best players are and put those guys in the best position. We’ll still do a lot of things we’ve done the last three years under Coach Monken and look forward to working with Bobo moving forward. Another interesting point is we’re still going to have input as coaches. We kind of divvy a lot of things up on staff. We all present our ideas to Coach Bobo. He’ll take what he likes and tell us what he doesn’t like. He’ll be in charge of calling those plays on gameday.”

On not having any drop off at running back with the injuries...

“I’ve always got to make sure the next guy’s ready. The expectation is we’re preparing everyone like they’re a starter. Just like I spoke earlier about the way we practice, two balls on two different fields to maximize reps. The bottom half of our roster is always getting developed. They’re able to see the mistakes that they’re making or they’re doing things the correct way. We’re able to find roles. We’re able to decide who’s going to be the starter based on how they’re doing during practice. Right now with the injured guys, we’re just really trying to win the moment right now and not worry about the outcome or moving forward. We’re going to be where our feet are and just really, really concentrate on our day to day and not look past the day that we have in front of us.”

On how Kendall Milton is doing physically and keeping his spirits up when he has another injury...

“He’s dealt with injuries, so keeping his spirit up is not very hard. He understands it’s a physical game just like we all do. Injuries are going to occur. The biggest thing for Kendall is he remains a leader for us. He’s a leader in that room. He still has a great voice and influence on our room and other players on the team. I don’t see his spirits being down. He doesn’t really second-guess anything. It’s just unfortunate that he’s had injuries since he’s been here. No one’s trying to get hurt or wants to be hurt as a player. As competitive as he is, he wants to be out with his teammates doing everything he can. I will say while he’s rehabbing, he’s maximizing those opportunities. He’s going three times a day. He has outside things he does as well as far as yoga and some other massage therapists that come in. Just happy we’ve got him on our team. He’s battling through fine."

On Cash Jones' development and if Dell has talked to Sony Michel since he retired from football...

"So first question with Cash, we're really, really glad we have him. He's one of our strongest guys on the team pound for pound, which speaks a lot for him with his size. He played last year on special teams. I think he was a starter on kickoff and contributed in other areas in our kicking game. We still think he will do a great job in that area. Cash catches the ball well out of the backfield. He's somewhat of a matchup problem for linebackers very similar to James Cook and Kenny McIntosh, who have served in those roles. The thing I really, really like about Cash is he's very unselfish. He goes 1,000% every single day, and he does it with a smile on his face. So anything you ask of Cash, he's more than willing to do.And then with Sony, yes, I have spoken with him. He's actually in Boston with his wife and seeing his in-laws right now. He's in good spirits. He knows the direction he wants to go in life. He had a tremendous life, and he still has an influence on this program and the standard that was set for the running backs that our kids still admire and look up to him."

On the running backs catching the ball out of the backfield...

"Yes, I would say this: with the injuries — with Kendall and what Branson and even Andrew Paul coming off an ACL — you don't get a chance to get those physical reps, so you lose out on that. So they have to really, really, really do extra, whether it's on their own or me as a coach taking time and making sure that they're getting those necessary route development and hand development that's needed to catch. All of our guys have improved in that area, and we can't let our injuries or not being there be an excuse to not catch the ball. When their number is called in the passing game, they're expected to catch it and answer the bell."

On Andrew Paul's recovery over the past 8-9 months...

"Yes, he is getting closer. His confidence is growing daily. Just like anyone who's been through an ACL, he was reluctant to wear his brace. Then he put the brace back on, took it off. So him taking the brace off is really a good sign that he's in a good head space. He's really worked hard to get back to where he is. Of course with camp, you get a little bit worn down, so you've got to kind of distinguish between am I sore or is my knee really, really bothering me. He's been very open and honest with our training staff and myself on when he feels like he can go and when he can't."

On Roderick Robinson ...

"Definitely has gotten an opportunity to get a lot of reps. Even coming out of spring football, you could see his growth and his development. This is probably the hardest thing he's had to do since being in high school, just going through fall camp. I think that has an impact on most freshmen when they come in — just the hours, the mental and physical toughness that you've got to have to go day to day with the banging and clanging and also just having some time constraints where you've got to get off your feet, get up early, go to treatment, and do it over and over and over and over for the days we've got left in camp. But very happy where he is. It's basically like you've got a flower that you're planting. He still needs fertilizing, and he has a lot of room to grow. So we're still cultivating Rod as a player not only as a football player but just things off the field, how to study film, and just kind of putting it all together."

On the collective effort that goes into gameplanning and how long that's been utilized...

"I think it's been consistent throughout. I will say when Coach Monken came, it became a little bit more detailed and a little bit more organize oriented where it's a certain day a coach is going to present this, another day a coach is going to present this area. And I think when he came in, he gave every coach that he assigned an area — kind of a sense of pride of. The game plan, you're taking a piece of the game plan and you're making it your own. But ultimately it was up to the coordinator whether he wanted to keep or take out or tweak what our other coaches thought that were important parts of the game plan. Like I said previously, Coach Bobo is going to do the same exact thing, so nothing's really changing from that perspective."

On traits you look for when recruiting RBs...

"I would say, philosophically, where we've gone from the three coordinators we've had, it's kinda changed because of who we've had in the room. First, getting here with coach Chaney, just establishing that line-of-scrimmage run game. Plus, we had two really good backs that were older that had carried the load and understood running the football. It wasn't a whole lot to teach there. Kinda progressing through Coley and even into Monken, getting the backs more involved in the passing game has tremendously increased. I think your recruiting philosophy has to change a little bit to cater to what the coordinator wants. When Monken was here, he showed that he wanted to have running backs that were able to create things in space, catch the football, create matchups for linebackers. And I think that philosophy will still stand. It does change according to what that coordinator wants and also the leadership of coach Smart. Everything still goes through coach Smart, so we are looking for guys that are talented, guys that can run fast, guys that got vision, things that you don't really have to teach. And then, maximize whatever the redeeming qualities that they have."

On three running backs committed in this class...

"I would say that they see the room. We have two seniors in Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards that are leaving the program. We have Andrew Paul who's coming off an injury. It still takes time for running backs to get their legs up under them. They also saw the fact that Branson was dealing with an injury, and we still hadn't gotten to our allotted number of six running backs. We've been under our allotted number. We're basically just getting to six. It wasn't really a sell. Like I've said previously, running backs have all flourished at the University of Georgia. That's the expectation. They want to be a part of that, just being competitive and having the chance to better themselves as men, and just the influence of me being in their life plays a big, big part of that."

On where the running backs are at this point in fall camp compared to past years...

"We're still a work in progress right now because of the injuries. A lot of the guys have have to take on bigger loads, speaking of Daijun Edwards and Cash Jones. Even our walk-on Savaughn Clark, his workload has increased due to our injuries. At the same token, it's my job to prepare whoever's available, whoever's healthy to perform at a high level. We're just really, really concentrated on each day, each moment, winning those small moments without looking into the future, looking at future outcomes. It's basically, 'How do I get better daily?'"

On what Kendall is dealing with and what the room is like with the injuries...

"I'm very confident. I think we have the right guys. They have the right mindset. They're working their butts off. They do extra for film study. They're really connected as a group. Our offense won't live and die by our running backs. We've got really good players all over the football field, so I think our running back room will be by-committee. Whoever has the hot hand will earn those touches. We'll spread the ball out and find out who needs to touch the ball as the game goes on."

On what the hardest thing to teach a new running back...

"The biggest thing is, when you're coming out of high school, they don't have an opportunity to pass protect and see the multitude of blitzes and things that, especially our defense, throws at a running back. The non-verbal communication between a center, quarterback, and running back is something they have to learn. How physical and big linebackers that are blitzing the running back is definitely different because most of the linebackers we're picking up are bigger than us. So picking up blitz protection, learning the non-verbal communication is probably the hardest thing for most running backs coming out of high school. And it just takes reps and reps and reps and reps, and me getting chewed out, and me being a bad coach, and so I just take it to heart, and we continue to grind and get better at it."

On getting chewed out by Kirby...

"Oh yeah, everybody gets that smoke. Everybody. Coach Smart has set the standard in this organization. He doesn't let any minute detail go past. There are things he'll remember from five or six years ago, and he'll bring that up, and it's like, wow, it's amazing that he remembers that minute detail, or we did this on that day. Coach Smart has done a tremendous job of establishing the culture and reinventing himself throughout his eight years of being here. I credit him to a lot of my knowledge. I think he challenges the entire staff to grow and not be stagnant or stale. He always challenges us to find a different way, find a better way. Are we doing this the right way? Us bringing in other coaches from other programs. We lean on those coaches, as well. Hey, how did you do this particular drill? Coach Smart is demanding, but he also allows us to have our voice and opinion while he's still putting his foot on our throat, or giving us the smoke as you were saying."

Why the time was right now to be Georgia's offensive coordinator…

“First of all, there wasn't really an official opportunity to come back here three years ago. Made a decision to go to South Carolina with coach Muschamp and unfortunately that didn't work out. After Auburn, had other opportunities to go other places but I wanted to go somewhere where I could continue learning as a coach. I always wanted to be under the coach Smart, coach Saban tree and learn how they practice, how they organize, how they go about things. I tell recruits, you go somewhere you want to be developed and I came here last year to try to get developed more as a coach. It was a learning curve and those guys took me in. It was very, very positive. With coach Monken going to the NFL, the opportunity presented itself to be coordinator. I felt comfortable about being here. I met my wife here. My kids were born here. You're at a place working for an administration that believes in what we're doing. Our head coach has a plan how to do things. To be part of this program that I played at, went to school, graduated from the University of Georgia, I couldn't pass that opportunity up.

But I didn't come here two years ago to be the offensive coordinator. I came here to learn and continue my growth as a coach. It just happened to work out that way.”

On the 26 alumni working for Georgia…

“I think it's 26 alumni working in the football department. When you're recruiting a young man, there is never going to be 100 percent stability. They're looking for stability. You know the old saying, don't go for the coach. Go for the school and where you fit in. At the same time, recruits are going to be attracted to certain coaches. And I think that's a selling point. You've got coaches on this staff that love the University of Georgia. That are here to help the University of Georgia be the best that it can be in all areas, not just on the field. And it's important, to guys that graduated from here that it is successful in all areas. I think that is a selling point to the recruits.”

On how tough it is to be an assistant after previously having been a head coach…

“The question is how tough is it to run your own program, when you come back and you're not running it, I really think it's a little bit easier. You've sat in that chair as a head coach and you know everything that head coach is dealing with. Not just with aspects of dealing with practice and games, there is so much that comes across a head coach's desk. Before, you wondered why the head coach might do something or why we aren't doing this. You don't know what all a head coach has to balance. It makes you a better assistant. Knowing when to voice your opinion, or you could walk in there and say something private. Or the head coach can ask you a question and you say, "we might have done it this way."

And then you know how to be a good soldier. Because you've been in that chair and you know what your responsibility is. Your No. 1 responsibility is to be loyal to the head coach.”

On what he's seen from the quarterbacks…

“We're basically finishing up our last day of install today. And then tomorrow will be a review and then we'll have the scrimmage. I've been pleased with all the quarterbacks. We've been focusing on the process and each install and what we can control in that moment. Those guys have done a great job. There have been ups and downs but they've been focused. They come into every meeting ready to go, prepared before the meeting.

Saturday is a scrimmage. It's the closest thing we can get to a game. How are you going those situations when you're out there with the team by yourself. There is no coaches on the field. The bottom line for a quarterback, it's can we execute. Are we going to be able to execute and get us in the right play, get us in the right protection, run the offense, handle third down situations, red zone situations, and that's what we're looking for. Handling those situations in a game and having continuity on offense.”

On if he's bringing a new edge to the position considering last two coordinator stops weren't successful...

"I think I have the same edge that I've always had. For whatever reason, those things didn't work out, and when they don't work out you have to look yourself in the mirror, you don't point fingers or make excuses, and you come here with a mindset of doing everything possible to help make us successful at the University of Georgia. That's my edge as an offensive coach. It's not, 'Okay, this didn't work last time in this situation. I've got to prove myself this time.'

I always tell the players, there are going to be moments that we have failures and you keep getting yourself back up on your feet because what's on the other side of failure is success. We know this job has pressure. There's pressure that comes with this job. I've sat in this chair and I understand those pressures. I think I'm older and have more experience now to handle those pressures and focus on our football team, especially our offense - what I'm in charge of - to get them ready to practice on a daily basis and play on Saturdays."

On how much the offense would have changed regardless of who was at coordinator considering loss of Stetson Bennett, Darnell Washington, etc...

“Each year you try to figure out your identity as an offense. Whether I was sitting there at coordinator or Coach Monken came back, you have to figure out what pieces of the puzzle fit to what things that we did well last year and figure out what changed. Darnell was such a big impact for us, not necessarily just blocking in-line but also being able to block on the perimeter, Stetson's ability to move - we've got to figure out the pieces that fit best for us offensively and that's part of what fall camp is about.

Day one in the first meeting we talk about competition to our players and building depth, but it's not competition necessarily going against the defense, it's competition between position groups. There's competition between the tight ends and the receivers. Are our tight ends going to step up and we're still going to be a lot of 12 or are we going to have to be more 11? Those are the things that you're figuring out through camp, and at the end of the day, you have to put the best guys on the field to give you the best chance to be successful, and then we want to build depth.

If there's multiple people that can do multiple things that increases our volume as an offense with more things that we can do. So we're still trying to figure that out at practice. We've got a good feel for it right now, but we've still got to go play on Saturday in a scrimmage and fine tune things the next 8-9 days until the second scrimmage is over.”

On if he can notice the difference in Georgia's overall talent since he was last here...

“The number one thing is that they've done a great job of recruiting around here. There's always been good players at the University of Georgia, but I think Coach has done a great job of building depth at all the positions: ones, twos, threes, and the way we practice, the way we go about developing guys with two-spot things, guys are constantly working on their craft. Whether you're a fourth stringer today or a first stringer, you're getting reps like the first string guys. So guys can develop, and I think that helps with them being able to play faster when their opportunity comes via injury or guys graduating or whatever, they're able to step up and play at a successful level with a chance to compete. That would be the number one thing for me, the depth that is here now and the development. Coach Smart does a great job of having a plan to develop these guys. There's never a meeting that goes by that development isn't stressed by our head coach. You're not just coaching the first teamer or second teamer, you're coaching everybody out there.”

On coaching Brock Bowers...

“As a play caller, it's about players and not plays. That's your number one job as a play caller. If a guy's got a unique ability to make plays and plays that turn into explosives, we've got to do a good job as a staff of finding plays and designing plays that get him touches.

As far as getting the best out of Brock Bowers, you're going to get the best out of Brock Bowers every single day. He is not a guy that needs to be motivated. He is locked in in every meeting, every walk through. I had the good fortune of being able to sit in the tight end room last year and be able to see how he's a guy that when Coach Hartley would mention it one time, he got it. He did not need a lot of reps. He's extremely smart, and he's very humble. He reminds me a lot of a guy like Nick Chubb when I was here before that just went and worked every single day. He tried to get better no matter what he had done the day before, the game before, the year before. He was constantly trying to improve his craft. He's a joy to coach, and I'm glad he's a Georgia Bulldog.”

Mindset as an analyst in 2022…

"Well I kind of mentioned it earlier, I think Seth asked the question. When I came back to the University of Georgia in an off-the-field role, as an analyst. As an analyst, your number one job is to help the coaches. I wanted to help coach Monken and that staff any way that I could and also learn. You're coming in and you're trying to learn how coach Smart set his practice schedule, how he ran the offseason, all those things, but also how coach Monken was running his offense. So you're learning and then I've sat in the chair (offensive coordinator) before too. At first you don't want a guy that's got a bunch of ideas.

"You want a guy who when you give him a task, he's going to get it done. Whatever my task was, i wanted to try to do it to the best of my ability and let him know that he could count on me. Then as the season went on, that trust continued to build between coach Monken and I. He felt more comfortable asking me some questions about what I thought. At the end of the day, I've sat in that chair and if he didn't like my idea, I didn't get my feelings hurt. I think that's what you've got to do as a good staff member. You're going to present ideas, we all present ideas, and at the end of the day, the coordinator has got to pick which ideas he wants to put on that call sheet. If he didn't use my idea, so be it. If he does, great. At the end of the day, I'm going to help those coaches coach those ideas to the players. So just trying to be a sponge in there and help in any way that he asks, no matter whatever it was."

What Bobo has added to his toolbox from working with Monken…

"They all have a body of plays and they're all pretty similar when you look at different offenses. Some might focus more on balance, pro-style like use. Some might be more spread. We have elements of all that and I'd like t'd like to think that I've had elements of all that in my offenses in the past. I would think the No. 1 thing is more movement, more shifts and motions really to disguise formations and get guys in matchups that are beneficial to our offenses. He really did an outstanding job of that."

Process of keeping the offense in place but putting his own spin on it…

"The main thing that didn't change was the terminology. You want to keep the terminology the same for the players. There'll be little nuances that change of how we do things and a lot of what's our identity going to be offensively. You might see some changes if our identity changes of who we are offensively. We don't have a guy that can possibly extend plays as well. We have two of those guys who can but Stetson had elite quickness and the ability to get yourself out of trouble. We don't have a 6-7 280-pound tight end so I think you'll see some different things there and I think it would have been a little bit different anyway no matter who is standing up here."

Learning from Todd Monken from a process standpoint…

"I would say during the game week, I've usually sat as a whole staff and watched things and had ideas. It was broken off. Each guy had a responsibility presented to the staff. He allowed ownership within the staff. I had an area, coach (Todd) Hartley has an area, coach (Bryan) McClendon has an area, coach (Dell) McGee has an area and those guys took ownership of that. Again, he doesn't use every idea that somebody presents but he gave the staff in that room ownership of the game plan. I thought that was unique and then again the shifting and motion of getting in some plays and advantages of those guys not being able to attack certain formations."

Bringing in Darrell Dickey and Brandon Streeter...

"First of all, I'm excited that we got Darrell Dickey and Brandon Streeter, two guys that are experienced coordinators. Coach Streeter, obviously, at Clemson. Coach Dickey has been everywhere so those are guys that, as a coach, you can bounce things off, ideas that you might have. How have you done it this way? What have you done? Is it a little bit different? Is it the same? Then their roles will increase as the season once the season gets closer of having areas and presenting to the staff. Some weeks it might be a multitude of things. Some weeks it might be one play that helps us get a first down or a conversion on third down or score in the red zone. Nobody has all the answers. I've never had all the answers. I think if Coach Monken was sitting up here, he would say he doesn't have all the answers. If you are in that staff room, you're looking for ideas. You're looking for fresh ideas, maybe a spin on the way that you've done something in the past that will give you the advantage. Something that the defense might not be able to recognize. So it's all about ideas and putting ourselves in a position where we can be successful on offense."