Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. Georgia has a blooming room of tight end talent in Athens, but one thing that seems to have bugged a lot of us is the lack of use of these guys in the passing game.
What gives? The obvious first point of blame would be, of course, Bobo. By this simple assumption, we can also say it’s the loss of offensive wizard Todd Monken.
One thing to point out…the Baltimore Ravens tight ends caught 107 and 109 passes in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, respectively, then dropped to 75 in the 2023 season, rose to 97 in 2024, and back down into the 70s this past season.
Furthermore, receptions by TEs at Georgia were as follows:
2020 – 24
2021 – 75
2022 – 98
2023 – 85
2024 – 62
2025 – 43
So Monken was responsible for the first three years there, Bobo for the last. So what the heck happened?
Explanation 1 – Brock Bowers was HIM – There’s Herschel, and there’s Brock. Championship teams are usually accompanied by some otherworldly talent, and it was Walker in 1980 and Bowers in 2021 and 2022. It’s paramount to note that in 2021, 2022, and 2023, Bowers was the leading receiver on the team. 2020 was a COVID year, but the leading tight end receivers on the team were John FitzPatrick with 10 and Darnell Washington with 7. In 2021, Bowers had 56 receptions, and in 2022 he had 63 receptions with McConkey close behind with 58. He would get 56 receptions again in 2023 with Lovett close behind at 54. Darnell Washington would peak with 28 receptions behind Bowers in 2022.
Since then, Luckie lead the TE room with 24 receptions in 2024 and Delp with 20 in 2025. Certainly a pronounced drop-off, but neither, while both being good, are the athlete that Bowers was (and is).
Explanation 2 – Scheme – I broke this down last year, but the number of 13 and 12 personnel from the Auburn game with Monken as OC and Bobo as OC didn’t really change. We are a single back team by design, until this year when we started sneaking in McCray as a fullback/runningback hybrid on certain plays. In all honesty, when Monken used his 12 and 13 sets, it was typically a guarantee that Bowers would be available for a pass whereas Washington was your sixth lineman. That brings me to the next thing…
Explanation 3 – Need – As mentioned above, Washington was primarily a sixth lineman. It’s important to note, though, that he served in this function next to a solid starting five on the offensive line. While the 2023 unit was solid, the 2024 offensive line was plagued with injuries and the line carousel continued well into the 2025 season, as well. Given the O-Line’s shortcomings, it stands to reason that 12 and 13 personnel sets may have been more for pass protection or run blocking to shore up weaknesses with the starting rotation. As such, less availability was there for open looks and receiving options.
Explanation 4 – Reads – While the 2025 offensive line was stronger, the other complaint was chiefly on the quarterback. While Gunner has his strengths, one area of growth that stood our at year’s end was his ability to get the ball over the big guys’ heads, as well as seeing open receivers down field. If the guys weren’t open outside the tackles, it seemed nothing was getting completed and depending on the tight ends’ routes, Gunner might have never seen them.
Not sure what the right explanation is, but let’s face it…we all wished we had a Brock Bowers on our team every year. But just like Herschel, they don’t come often. At least we capitalized on it twice (and damn near a third time in 2023)…but we need to start finding ways to keep the line solid and getting these uber-talented big guys the ball…before they start finding it somewhere else in the portal.
Our tes do a superb job blocking
Great analysis
I’m hoping with Elyiss, we can up the numbers. No, he’s not a Bowers, but with his height and athletic ability, he should be hard to cover.
I would add gunner not seeing the deep routes or being patient enough to let deep routes develop.
Excellent work here.
19 was a freaking unicorn. Having Granddaddy 0 as a 3rd offensive tackle who did things in the passing game as well was borderline unfair to defenses.
Can 10 be that kind of player? We’ll see.
Yes, Gunner needs to improve from his first year as a starter. Think about where SBIV was in 2020 (when he took over for Mathis) to what he became in 2021 after Daniels got hurt and then blew up in ‘22.
Is Gunner 25 ahead of Bennett 20? I would suggest yes.
I think Gunner is well ahead of Stetson ‘21. Whether he will make the same giant leap that Stet made in the following off season is an open question.
You all just have to understand that OC George Haffner “schemed” Walker over Bill Bates. Once you understand football at that level of depth, you’ll know where to place blame when an offensive play does not lead to a touchdown.
Reigning champs Eagles fired their OC. Probably because the players no longer know how to play. We get it. You worship Bobo & no word against him will stand. Please give it a rest occasionally. That is all.
Things I’ve said:
1) The bootleg pass at the goal line that turned into a grounding penalty, a missed fg, and a loss was fucking stupid.
2) The reverse, blind toss from Beck to Bell in the shadow of our goal line was fucking stupid.
Other observations:
The Ravens moved on from Harbaugh because he wouldn’t consider moving on from Monken.
Schitty had a top 5 scoring offense in the NFL in Year 1 on the job.
Maybe the couch coordinator commentariat should give it a rest because they have no idea wtf they are talking about, ever, about anything.
All they know for sure is that they can’t handle being told the truth.
play allergy, is a proven entity when it counted the most, something Bobo has NEVER shown in how many years as a college OC. Schmitt was absolute dogshit as GA OC in his one season & it doesn’t matter what he could do with the pros, he was coaching college. You do what you can do with what you’ve got & it feels like Bobo always makes moving the ball look like an impossible task. He has games where he’s great, no doubt & I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. But when you have to score in the big games, it usually disappears. Other teams do more with less. We do less with more. Yes, this is my completely stupid and unworthy take on it. We’ll be good but not great. There is no chance, in my opinion, that Bobo can lead our offense through three playoff games in a row without an absolute offensive shitshow in at least one of them. Both our coordinators were completely outcoached against Ole Miss by a staff coaching their second game. I love Kirby, I just believe this is a major blind spot for him. Hope I’m proven wrong. All previous evidence says I’m not.
As one of the world’s finest couch Coordinator, I will continue to believe this & occasionally voice it knowing it won’t change and, like 23 & 25, we will continue to blow chances at another title due to subpar coaching when it counts the most. You friend have no more insight or intelligence on the matter than anyone else here & despite your grandiose belief in your own brilliance, your opinion is as worthless as anyone else’s. You just seem to take it personally when someone dares disagree with you, then you proceed to gaslight in multiple blogs that anyone with a differing opinion is a Neanderthal. Just keep it civil & realize there is valid disagreement on how far Bobo can take this offense.
Play allergy, WTF? “Monken as a college OC” should be there instead.
The opinion “i know more about football than Kirby” is worthless no matter how much value you try to give to it.
I’m not saying I know more football than you. I am saying Kirby knows more football than both us combined and then some. Therefore, I am willing to accept whatever Kirby decides as superior than our own opinions.
And what respect I have for people who don’t get that sensible, logical and fact based perspective is very gd little. Find some salve for your butthurt or a clue.
The correct answer is yes.
Excellent analysis! I too hope we start using the tight ends more, but there are a lot of pieces to that puzzle.
Gunner’s not getting any taller. He has had more batted balls last part of the year than I can remember. Roll him out our get the OL to cut the Dlinemen to keep them from jumping. We are just wasting plays with him as a drop back passer.
When you roll a QB out, you take away half the field from the defense’s concern. Most QBs also can’t throw consistently to both sides when on the run.
If you can’t pass effectively from the pocket, you won’t have an effective passing game.
The idea that a duel threat QB is the best option for a high powered offense has to be modified..
Better is a triple threat QB.
One that can stand in the pocket and throw darts..
Run if the pocket breaks down…or it’s a R/P or designed run.
or SCRAMBLE to buy time for receivers to break open and see them when they do.
The triple threat QB will wear a defense down..(See “Trinidad Chambliss vs UGA).
Gunner is duel…Stetson was somewhat triple.
Quickness (different than speed but related) is the difference.
Gunner may be ahead of where Stetson was at this point..but does he have as high of a ceiling as Stetson had?
I don’t know….But there are two things I suspect.
I think Stetson was a quicker on his feet That and his quick throwing release gave him the confidence to stretch out a run/pass decision a little longer…he could afford to wait a mite longer before taking off.
Seems Gunner makes early and somewhat final decisions to revert to the run even when someone breaks wide open (as in the photo).
But maybe that’s not a negative for Gunner. He’s made a lot of plays with his legs.
Is Gunner’s throwing motion is a little slow?
(hope some of you QB gurus might speak to that).
I do think that Gunner is doing a better job of not staring down his primary receiver and being willing to go to number two..but missing a wide open three is frustrating to the receiver and to us easy chair QBs.
About that photo (above).
Maybe that photo was just Gunner taking a sure first down with his legs (can’t tell where the marker is from the picture) instead of risking a pass that could be dropped or off the mark. As I alluded to above, once he makes up his mind to run, he usually doesn’t remit. He does not scramble guys open (like Chamblis so effectively did against us).
Also, Delp is just coming into view from being behind a defender and a zebra..And look at the blocking and the amount of running room he had with only one defender to beat for a long gain.
But it’s true that he missed a lot of open guys down field all year.
If he improves on that it will be great!
Gunner reminded me at times of ’20 Stetson. Monken schemed open receivers like crazy and Stetson often couldn’t see ’em. Gunner had tons of “turn downs” , being risk averse. But Gunner hasn’t worked behind a line largely recruited by Pittman, either. Its a work in progress.
I know the kid is rangy but damn it seemed almost all plays designed for him were the low percentage jump balls down field. It reminded me of Coley’s offense🤢 I would like to see more high percentage routes for #10. Get the ball in his hands across the middle and let him go to work!