[See Georgia’s 2015 signing class here.]

Overall

Take a step back for a second – in the past year, Georgia has replaced both coordinators and the entire defensive coaching staff. Only Mark Richt and three offensive position coaches remain from the 2013 season. On the field Georgia weathered the first stage of that transition in 2014 with a 10-win season and a top-10 final ranking. On the recruiting trail, Georgia might’ve fared even better. Despite losing longtime offensive coordinator (and perhaps the program’s best recruiter) Mike Bobo, Georgia held on to and even added to an outstanding 2015 recruiting class. Georgia’s new coaches have put together consecutive consensus top-10 recruiting classes, and Wednesday’s large (and perhaps soon to be even larger) group replenishes the roster at several positions.

Needs

I sat at the Blind Pig facing their list of signees, and the emphasis of the class was hard to miss. The half of the list dedicated to the offense had a blank column big enough to write Terry Godwin’s name vertically while the defensive side had run out of space. About two-thirds of Georgia’s class are defenders, and the team addressed areas on defense hit by graduation as well as areas that needed shoring up.

The class is strongest on the defensive line. Georgia signed not only defensive tackles (Trenton Thompson could have immediate impact), but there are also several guys who could be effective 3-4 defensive ends. The class was a little thin at linebacker with only a trio signed (pending Roquan Smith), but one of the cardinal rules of recruiting is to avoid getting hung up over a player’s stated position. We’ll see how the pieces are plugged into the roster down the road. The secondary, though losing only Swann, had to replace a slew of transfers and added signees both at cornerback and safety. Several will have an opportunity to have the immediate impact that Dominick Sanders had in 2014.

Georgia’s haul on offense was lighter, but you still see areas of focus. The Dawgs didn’t sign a quarterback, and the only backfield signee was a late addition more in the mold of Quayvon Hicks than a true tailback. Georgia got an outstanding tight end, bolstered the receivers, and four offensive linemen ranging from 6’4″ to 6’7″ give the team a head start on replacing the group that will be graduating after 2015. 5* athlete Terry Godwin gives Georgia another versatile weapon to go along with Michel, McKenzie, and Mitchell.

With a class of around 30 players, it’s hard to say that any areas of need were left wanting. Georgia is committed to the quarterbacks on the roster knowing that the nation’s best quarterback is on his way in 2016. Likewise, Georgia will ride with the five returning scholarship tailbacks and address the future of that position in 2016. You might have liked a little more help at inside linebacker with Herrera and Wilson departing, but we’ll see how the staff distributes the roster in August, and UAB standout Jake Ganus could help.

Walk-ons

Californian Nick Robinson will join the team as a quarterback. U.S. Army All-American kicker Rodrigo Blankenship will walk on until a scholarship becomes available in 2016 when he’ll be the leading candidate to replace Marshall Morgan. Hudson Reynolds of Bainbridge could very well become the next long-snapper once Theus graduates.

Immediate Impact

Where does the large 2015 class have the best opportunity to get on the field? You can start with Trenton Thompson. The dominant lynchpin of Georgia’s defensive line class will be an important part of the rotation right away. We’ll likely see other true freshmen join Tracy Rocker’s rotation. It will also be hard to keep Godwin off the field – as we saw with Michel and McKenzie in 2014, a creative offensive coordinator should get playmakers involved even as true freshmen. Depending on the health of Jay Rome, tight end Jackson Harris could be next in line behind Blazevich. The most intriguing area might be the secondary – the 2014 unit was largely improvised with changing lineups and walk-ons and true freshmen pressed into service. Some like Sanders and Mauger made enough progress to be considered returning starters, but there’s a whole lot of playing time up for grabs.

Kirby Choates

We’ve all heard the fans who claim to prefer lower-rated prospects who bleed red and black over the 5* guy making a business decision. Often that’s just a form of sour grapes and has always struck me as odd – why not prefer 25 5* guys whose parents named them “Herschel?” That’s a roundabout way of getting to Kirby Choates Jr. Choates, a “self-professed longtime Bulldog fan,” was off the radar for most of the process while he worked to become academically qualified. Even once he cleared up academic concerns, it was touch and go whether Georgia’s class had filled up. The offer he had waited for finally came, and his signing ceremony tells you everything you need to know about what the opportunity to play at Georgia means to him. It’s unfair to make Tim Jennings (another unheralded 11th hour offer) comparisons, but we do know that Kirby Choates will have a lot of fans in his corner when he arrives in Athens.

Roquan Smith

Smith’s story became an instant Signing Day classic – the surprising announcement, the wait while he put the UCLA gloves on, and then the excitement that circulated as rumors of second thoughts spread. Georgia’s top signee, Trenton Thompson, became involved. Then news hit that his would-be coordinator at UCLA was going to become part of the Atlanta Falcons staff. The day ended not with a reversal but with a step back to reconsider all four of his finalists.

We were reminded that Signing Day isn’t a day – the 2015 football signing period goes through April 1. For his own sake, I’m glad that he didn’t rush into following through on a very public announcement if he still had doubts. The confusion over the UCLA coaching decision showed that he made the right decision to wait.

As a Georgia fan, of course I want Smith in Athens. His talent is without question, and he plays at a position of need for Georgia. He’s feeling the stress and weight of a bigger decision than most of us had faced at that age, and the pressure from friends and family to stay home can be both a positive and a negative. I think Tyler has a good insight here – I hope those bridges can be rebuilt as Smith reconsiders his decison.

The Georgia football program announced on Wednesday the selection of Brian Schottenheimer as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Schottenheimer will replace Mike Bobo who took the Colorado State head coaching position back in December. Schottenheimer, who served as the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets and St. Louis Rams, had considered other opportunities to coach college ball in the South and finally pulled the trigger when the Georgia position became available.

I have to admit that my first reaction was reflexively negative – perhaps it had to do with an aversion on principle to NFL coaches, or as Dawg Sports put it, “Schottenheimer joins the ranks of other NFL offensive coordinators who have gone on to have great careers as offensive coordinators in the SEC, such as ________. And _______.” Or, in the words of Blutarsky, “Bobo’s departure doesn’t come as a relief.” I was in no rush to see Bobo leave the program and would have been just fine paying him Schottenheimer-level money* to keep the status quo.

(* – We don’t know yet the terms of Schottenheimer’s deal, but this was a guy making $1.5-2 million as an NFL coordinator. He might be willing to take a cut to get his foot in the door of the right situation if coaching college ball is his objective, but he still figures to command a deal worth more than Georgia has been paying its coordinator. It will be interesting to learn, if we ever do, whether Bobo was indeed offered a similar deal to remain in Athens or if the rumors that Georgia didn’t do much in the way of a counter-offer are true.)

So after the mixed results with Grantham and after watching Weis flame out at Florida, we are understandably jaded about plucking another coach from the NFL. He might well be the exception to the rule – I am only aware in the most general sense of his track record in New York and St. Louis, the personnel issues he dealt with in both situations, and the coaches for whom he worked. One benefit of our Grantham experience is the learned lesson that an NFL resume in itself is no talisman. The college game has its own unique demands and challenges, and there’s not much to go on when we try to map Schottenheimer’s experience to our expectations for what he’ll do at Georgia.

One of the key dynamics to watch will be the Schottenheimer-Richt collaboration. Schottenheimer’s head coaches in New York and St. Louis were defensive guys who (within reason) delegated the offense. It’s the opposite at Georgia. Richt has (again, within reason) been hands-off with his defense and even allowed fundamental scheme changes like the switch to a 3-4 system in 2010. That’s not happening on offense. Richt was clear heading into this hire that “were gonna continue to do what we do offensively.” Though Richt may have handed over playcalling over eight years ago, he still has very specific expectations for the offense, and anything Georgia runs will have Richt’s stamp of approval and oversight.

Will that dynamic constrain Schottenheimer or will it allow him to grow? Richt has always run a “pro-style” offense, but that vague label has applied even as the offense evolved during the Richt-Bobo partnership. Of course there was plenty of the usual I-formation or shotgun, but we’ve also seen the use of pistol and wildcat. We’ve seen the use of tempo as a strategy. Those are just a few of the wrinkles that gave Georgia the flexibility to go from featuring one of the conference’s most prolific passers to producing eye-popping results on the ground without skipping a beat. So even as Richt insists on a certain identity, there’s still room for creativity,innovation, and growth within that framework.

With scheme more or less settled, there are a few other challenges for the newcomer.

Recruiting

Jeremy Pruitt has gone on a tear restocking the defensive side of the roster. He’s pretty much had to – attrition and recruiting shortcomings had left things in a state where walk-ons and freshmen have been forced into action. Schottenheimer comes into a better short-term situation. The tailback position looks great, there are returning veterans at receiver and tight end, the line will be about as seasoned as it gets, and there will be a good pool of quarterback candidates.

Schottenheimer will have a similar opportunity to recruit the next wave of stars for Georgia’s offense, but, again, Richt has established the parameters. “The skill sets that we’ve recruited for, they have nothing to worry about, because we’re gonna use them to their fullest.” Schottenheimer’s first job is holding together some important 2015 and 2016 commitments, and Richt’s promise is a none-too-subtle message to reinforce Georgia’s position with those commitments and prospects. The recruiting services have already reached out to those prospects, and the responses have been positive for Georgia and Schottenheimer.

Bobo’s role as a recruiter was about as important to Georgia as his playcalling role. The Thomasville native had the connections to make deep inroads for the program into South Georgia. Bobo wasn’t only involved with quarterbacks and other offensive skill prospects; he was Georgia’s man for many high-profile South Georgia defenders from Ray Drew to Trenton Thompson. It’s going to be tough for Schottenheimer to take over without the same homegrown network, and it’s going to take a collaborative effort to maintain Georgia’s advantages in that important area of the state.

Teaching

As the quarterbacks coach Schottenheimer will be asked to continue what’s become the golden age of Georgia quarterbacking. Four of the seven quarterbacks who started for Bobo and Richt earned an NFL roster spot, and even in the transitional seasons of 2009 and 2014 Georgia won at least nine games. Georgia’s top five quarterbacks in terms of career efficiency have all been from this era (Murray, Mason, Shockley, Greene, Cox). Georgia might be blessed with a fleet of tailbacks, but it’s no coincidence that Richt found a coordinator with experience working with quarterbacks. Modern offenses require competent quarterback play first and foremost, and Schottenheimer has a high standard to follow at Georgia.

Former boss Jeff Fisher calls Schottenheimer an “excellent teacher.” Even though that’s said in the context of defending an embattled coordinator, it’s worth something that Fisher would single out that attribute. Similarly, Schottenheimer is praised for his organization, and he’ll have to be organized to get the most out of limited practice opportunities. He’s worked with some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and he’s been able to involve new talent (like Tre Mason this season) quickly.

There are adjustments for an NFL coach making the transition to college. Near the top of the list is the understanding that most college players don’t start with a basic fluency in fundamentals. When Pruitt began a year ago, he had to spend time stressing even the most mundane details. The time required just to build that fundamental foundation means that what’s build on that foundation can’t be particularly complex. Adding to the time crunch are the built-in NCAA time limits, the requirements and distractions of college life, and the fact that you’re instructing nearly twice as many players as you would with a 53-man NFL roster.

A year ago, there was nearly universal accord for Georgia’s new defensive coordinator. We were ready to move on from the predecessor, and Pruitt had done exactly the same job for the national champion. There seems to be a lot more wait-and-see with this hire, and we’ve outlined some of the reasons for that above. Considering the recent success of the Georgia offense, I imagine that anyone hired to follow Bobo would make us a little nervous. In his favor, Schottenheimer is more than qualified for the position. He’ll have some of the best talent in the nation with which to work and all of the resources he’ll need. He’ll have input into the hiring of a new offensive line coach. If Schottenheimer is ready to prove himself at the college level, he’s set up for success.