What We Learned About Georgia's Offense From Todd Monken

Georgia's offensive coordinator, Todd Monken spoke with the media today and we learned a bit about his offense heading into the second week of camp.

The question everyone wants to know about Georgia's football team headed into the 2020 season is a clear and obvious one. 

What is the offense going to look like under new coordinator, Todd Monken? 

Well, today Monken spoke to the media via Zoom and we learned a bit more about what he intends to do with the available talent in Athens. 

Done it All Coordinator

When listening to Monken speak, it's clear that over his career he's done just about anything on the offensive side of the football. From a run-heavy offense under Les Miles to the air raid at Oklahoma State, to a more balanced explosive attack at the professional level. Monken has decades of offensive styles in his portfolio and, for the most part, he's had reasonable success at each and every level. 

So, you evolve as you get going. I try to think back, what would have been 18 years ago when I got with Les Miles, and Les Miles was a 'run it,' as an offensive line coach. He thinks, fourth-and-four toss it Jacob Hester on toss power for a first down as opposed to throwing it. But before then I was at Louisiana Tech, where we were no huddle and throwing it under Gary Crowton, then you go from there. So you develop things you like then you go to Oklahoma State back again, and I learned a little bit of the air raid with the Dana Holgorsen that he had learned through Mike Leach, and that group from previously. You develop the things you like, and then you go to the NFL and, like you said, you bounce around things you like there, ways of identifying how to attack people and again it still comes down to utilizing your personnel to the best of their ability.

It's all about being explosive

One thing evident when listening to Monken, and it's something we've spoken about throughout the offseason, Monken's offense is all about being explosive. 

Obviously, you've got to find a way to be explosive consistently. You've got to be able to score touchdowns in the red zone. It's really pretty simple that way, is to be explosive offensive and then, once you get down there, find a way to score touchdowns. Taking advantage of those opportunities and how you go about that— every team is a little bit different in that regard. That's probably the most important thing. I'm not comparing this year's offense to last year's, I'm not doing that. I'm just saying that the history of us scoring points is having explosive plays and scoring touchdowns in the red zone."

So, what's an explosive play? According to Monken, a run of 12+ yards and a pass of 16+ yards with an average of 1 out of every 8 plays being explosive. 

Still an open QB competition... kind of

Monken spoke highly of all of the quarterbacks on the roster on Tuesday, and he stated that through just 5 days of practice there really hasn't been a clear number one quarterback that's been establish. Though, if you look through the coach speak, you can see that he tipped his hand just a bit. 

When speaking about Newman and Daniels: 

The one thing I would say about Jamie [Newman] is that, [while] everybody talks about his athleticism, he's a better thrower than people think. I think JT [Daniels] is a better athlete. Obviously, there's film on both of those guys.

When speaking about Beck and Mathis: 

I've been impressed with both of them both of them are very talented young players. Obviously D'Wan last year missed part of the season, but with Carson coming in the spring, and being here obviously was here for the bowl game, you can see a lot of things that that you like from Carson's end of it from his throwing and his athleticism. D'Wan, [with] his athleticism and his arm talent, as he continues to develop, and they've been rotating like the other guys in terms of giving them an opportunity to compete for the job. So, their future is really bright.

Keyword, future. As in, not right now. Mathis has continued to turn heads throughout the offseason, and he's got the level of mobility and ability to throw on the run that Monken requires, but Daniels and Newman are the front runners at this point in time. 

Wide Receivers

Monken has clearly been impressed by the young wideouts on the roster. Saying, "We're still relatively young with certain guys we're counting on, like George [Pickens] and some of the incoming freshmen," but to no surprise of our readers here on Dawgs Daily, he's been pleasantly surprised with Kearis Jackson as well. 

"Kearis [Jackson] has been a relative surprise in terms of his consistency and the ways he has played and developed. That's what we're paid to do. We're paid to recruit really talented players and then develop them and maximize their measurable skill sets. That's what coaching is, and utilizing what they bring to the table."

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