Bobo, baseball and Bulldogs vs. No. 1

Good morning.

The big news this week around Georgia was Mike Bobo moving up to offensive coordinator after Todd Monken returned to the NFL as Baltimore Ravens’ OC.

We’ll hit on that in a moment.

Inside the lines, Georgia men’s basketball travels to No. 1 Alabama Saturday for a 6 p.m. ET game and Georgia baseball gets its season going with Jacksonville State at Foley Field for a three-game set starting Friday at 3 p.m.

OK, back to Bobo.

We’ve covered this week his track record with a record-setting offense at Georgia and tougher times after he left the Bulldogs. Kirby Smart certainly has earned the benefit of the doubt on making the hire even if the decision may not be popular by some in the fan base.

Bobo’s connection to Smart—former teammates and roommates--is well known, but don’t forget that co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is in synch with Bobo as well. He hired him in South Carolina in 2020 and also tight with Bobo.

“I trust Mike as a person and a coach,” Muschamp told me as spring practice began that year. “I saw what he did at Georgia and I saw him adjust to a lot of different personnel groupings at Colorado State. I thought he did a fantastic job in watching their film. He and I coach a lot alike. He’s liked minded as far as those things are concerned. I think that’s always important as a coach to be philosophically aligned with people on your staff.”

We talked to now former Georgia kicker Jack Podlesny on our podcast Thursday and he mentioned that Bobo connected well with players in the program this past year.

“I love coaching, I love being on the grass,” Bobo said in 2020. “I love having a chance to affect young kids in a lot of ways, not just on the football field.”

Now about Georgia basketball. Mike White’s team knocked off Kentucky and just got by LSU at home to move to 16-10, 6-7 in the SEC, a big jump from last year’s rocky 1 win in the SEC.

It now has rugged road games at No. 1 Alabama Saturday and Arkansas Tuesday.

The Crimson Tide will be plenty motivated coming off a 68-59 upset loss at Tennessee Wednesday.

“They’re one of the few teams in the country that have a chance to win a national championship,” White said. “It will be a really good test for us, an opportunity to play against the best and see where we stack up. …You hope we play well enough to be competitive.”

As for baseball, Scott Stricklin opens his 10^th Georgia season Friday. Not much is expected of the team based on preseason rankings. Georgia’s not in the top 25, but the team likes its deep lineup and Stricklin has options off the bench.

“It’s hard,” pitcher Liam Sullivan said. “The SEC is a hard league, anybody can beat anybody. The nice thing about playing in the SEC is all that really matters is making the tournament and if you make the tournament, you can make a run and end up in Omaha.”

Follow me on Twitter @marcweiszer and email me at mweiszer@onlineathens.com

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Bobo, baseball and Bulldogs vs. No. 1