New coaches, No. 1 recruiting class will help Georgia ‘reinvent’ program in 2020, Kirby Smart says

From the outsider’s eye, Georgia’s offseason had a period of freefall. Many people saw a heap of changes as one laden with concern for head coach Kirby Smart entering his fifth season.

From the conclusion of the SEC Championship on Dec. 7 to the Bulldogs’ National Signing Day hurrah on Feb. 2, here’s what happened:

Former offensive line coach Sam Pittman accepts head-coaching position at Arkansas.

Response: Georgia hires Matt Luke, former Ole Miss head coach, as offensive line and associate head coach.

Five Georgia players declare for the NFL draft after their junior seasons, including Jake Fromm.

Response: Georgia adds Jamie Newman as a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, signs four-star running back Kendall Milton to fill void left by D’Andre Swift and adds seven offensive linemen in the 2020 recruiting class.

Georgia demotes James Coley to assistant head coach, hires Todd Monken as offensive coordinator from Cleveland Browns.

Response: Coley leaves Georgia after four seasons, accepts role as tight ends coach at Texas A&M.

Former special teams’ coach Scott Fountain leaves to join Pittman at Arkansas.

Response: Georgia hires Buster Faulkner from Southern Miss as offensive analyst, has one coaching vacancy open.

Georgia starting offensive lineman Cade Mays transfers to Tennessee to join brother Cooper Mays and play at his father’s alma mater. Kevin Mays sued Georgia for a finger amputation while Cade was a Georgia recruit.

Response: See previous note on signing seven offensive linemen.

Georgia wins Sugar Bowl over Baylor, 26-14, to cap off 11-2 season.

Response: Bulldogs sign No. 1 recruiting class for 2020. Georgia added five-stars Darnell Washington and Kelee Ringo after the bowl game, and continued with five signees on National Signing Day (four of whom are in-state prospects).

OK, now breathe and try to take all of that in. It seems like a lot, and it certainly is an ample amount of turnover for a coaching staff to deal with. Smart, however, attributes it to the lifestyle of being a college football coach. A program can’t go through an offseason without adjusting to change, and it happened across the national level.

While such volume of change felt abnormal for Georgia, Smart didn’t even see it equaling the 2019 offseason.

“Last year, with both coordinators going, was much greater than this offseason,” Smart said.

“We’re still in the offseason so all the changes aren’t done yet. It’s part of the process. Being able to reinvent yourself is what’s going to set you apart and makes you different.

“Constant movement, constant growth. It’s what we’re trying to do. I think winning the Sugar Bowl was a big part of the process and really kick-started us into the second part of the recruiting season.”

One of the most-anticipated moves of the offseason came with Georgia’s hire of Monken. The Bulldogs lost their quarterback (Fromm), running back (Swift), second-leading receiver (Lawrence Cager) and every starting offensive lineman aside from junior center Trey Hill.

All of those departures came after Georgia’s offense struggled through last season. It had the 49th-best scoring offense (30.8 points per game), 72nd-best passing offense (223 yards per game) and 41st-ranked rushing offense (185 yards per game).

Enter Monken, Luke, Faulkner and a slew of underclassmen to begin an overhaul and potentially expand Georgia’s offensive capabilities.

Monken has led proficient offenses with the Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has college stops at Oklahoma State and Southern Miss. Monken and Smart have engaged in frequent interaction over the years — a month-or-so together on LSU’s staff before Smart became Georgia’s running backs’ coach in 2005, speaking engagements and recruiting together at various times.

Georgia, which still has more steps to take with rounding out its offensive staff, doesn’t have a clear answer as to how these hires translate to offensive production. The Bulldogs get their first look at the on-field product during the G-Day spring game on April 18.

“We’ll have to see where that goes. I can’t honestly say that right now,” Smart said. “I think everyone 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, score points, and do the explosive plays which we’ve talked about consistently.”

To this point in the offseason, Georgia’s biggest change is a favorable one. Smart signed yet another top recruiting class nationally. An ability to recruit at an elite level has become seemingly commonplace for Georgia under Smart, but it continued to land the nation’s best prospects while still undergoing turnover.

Georgia adds 25 signees to its name, including two transfers — Newman and Florida State product Tre’ McKitty. Some of the biggest names include Ringo, Washington, five-star offensive tackle Broderick Jones and five-star defensive tackle Jalen Carter. Smart doesn’t pay attention to the ranking associated with the class, but instead is focused on how it will be judged when the players’ tenures are complete.

“This latest signing period if more of an adjustment to what maybe you lost, or lost early outs, or where you think you have holes at,” Smart said. “We think we were able to fill a lot of those holes, we feel like we’ve got a very balanced class.”

Through all of the change and spring practice soon to begin, Georgia remains afloat. It’s not a freefall, and the Bulldogs are still on the national stage despite a large shift of change.

Smart isn’t done yet, however, and is prepared for the next step.

“This class doesn’t completely wrap it up,” Smart said. “There’s still moves to be made from a hiring standpoint, moving people around. It’s a work in progress.”