Offensive coordinators have changed at Georgia, but Bulldogs will still be run-first team

ATHENS -- Brian Schottenheimer soon will feel the warmth or the wrath at Sanford Stadium when it comes time to kick off the season Saturday.

If all goes well in his first game as Georgia’s offensive coordinator against Louisiana-Monroe, Georgia’s fans will be at ease. If the offense doesn’t perform up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon it, there could be fury.

Junior center Brandon Kublanow remembers how bad former offensive coordinator Mike Bobo got it from the fan base at times, even though his offense averaged 38.6 points per game during the past three years.

If Schottenheimer has a Bobo-like moment early this season, there’s a good possibility he’ll hear it from the Georgia faithful.

“Remembering from Bobo, it’ll probably be the first three-and-out, and they’ll be like, ‘All right, we gotta fire this guy,’ ” Kublanow said Tuesday with a laugh.

Although Bobo often was criticized by the Georgia fan base, whether it was on social media, message boards or sports radio, it seemed he was finally coming into his own as an offensive coordinator.

He helped land running backs Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel when it came time to recruit. Bobo, who is now the head coach at Colorado State, was also the No. 1 reason Lake Stevens, Washington, quarterback Jacob Eason gave his commitment to the program more than a year ago.

Therefore, Schottenheimer shouldn’t have to change much of what was previously in place to be successful. Georgia head coach Mark Richt said Schottenheimer has adapted to keep some of the philosophies that worked under Bobo while implementing some of the ideas he prefers as an offensive coordinator.

It has been a bit of give-and-take between the two offensive minds.

“There’s a lot of things he’s liked and some of those things he’s liked is new to us,” Richt said. “There’s a lot of things we’ve been doing around here that have been pretty good. And kind of feeding that to him, and he’s like, ‘Hey, I like that.’ So there are certain plays that are creeping in that maybe weren’t being practiced on the front end for certain situations.”

Much of what Richt and Schottenheimer agree on is that Georgia should be a run-first team. Schottenheimer had mixed success running the ball in the NFL as his offenses finished the year 19th or worse in six of his nine seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator with the New York Jets and St. Louis Rams.

But from 2008-2010 with Jets, Schottenheimer’s rushing attack finished in the top 10 each season, which included a No. 1 showing at 172.2 yards per game in 2009.

That track record, combined with Georgia’s personnel this season, has Kublanow optimistic.

“I think we could be the best offense in the nation,” Kublanow said. “Definitely running the ball, it’s one of our strong suits. ... It’s always been what Georgia’s about. Just running downhill and running the ball, being a good run team. That’s one of our biggest philosophies.”

The focal point in Schottenheimer’s offense will be sophomore running back Nick Chubb, who ran for 1,457 yards and 14 touchdowns in Bobo’s scheme. Running backs Michel, Keith Marshall and Brendan Douglas are also expected to get touches in the backfield. The backs will be aided by four returning starters back from last year’s offensive line.

Chubb said not much has changed from the Bobo’s offense to Schottenheimer’s. There might be a different offensive coordinator calling plays but Georgia will still do what it does best.

“People say all the time, ‘How are you going to prepare for teams that know what you’re going to do?’ ” Chubb said. “But here at Georgia, we run the ball since it’s been a program. It’s nothing different.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 9:19 PM with the headline "Offensive coordinators have changed at Georgia, but Bulldogs will still be run-first team ."