Georgia Football’s offense was not very good in 2015.
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Some blame Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta for not taking over to lead effectively under center. That would be fair. Then, there was the offensive line, which was supposed to be a strength that really struggled a lot throughout the year.
And it is at the offensive line where we see why Georgia struggled offensively under Schottenheimer. He made them change. While Georgia has run the pro-style offense since 2001 under former head coach Mark Richt, the Bulldogs mixed in a lot of spread formations particularly with the hire of Mike Bobo as offensive coordinator in 2007. In many games, Georgia operated as a spread, no-huddle offense more so than a traditional pro-style.
Under Schottenheimer, Georgia abandoned the spread and spent a majority of the time as a traditional, power based, pro-style offense. Why does this affect the offensive line? Because it demands more out of them.
Georgia’s offensive line was not built to overpower defenses for 60 minutes. Not to say they were soft because they weren’t, they were just accustomed to a different style. Had Brian Schottenheimer integrated more spread plays into his offense, Georgia could have been fine in 2015.
But Schottenheimer was set on making the Georgia offense into what he wanted it to be. And he would not budge.
Why Chaney will be better
It’s simple really. While Schottenheimer wanted to mold the offense into his image, Chaney is known for letting his talent dictate the offensive style.
Early on in his career, he loved the spread and air raid offenses. Under his leadership at Purdue, Drew Brees and Kyle Orton became eventual NFL starters.
After serving as the Boilermakers offensive coordinator, he spent some time in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams as their offensive line coach in 2006-2007 and tight ends coach in 2008. At this time, Rams running back Steven Jackson was becoming a star in the NFL. With Chaney coaching his blockers, Jackson ran for 3,572 yards.
Chaney returned to college to become Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in 2009 when Lane Kiffin became head coach, and he was retained when Derek Dooley took over in 2010. In 2012, Tyler Bray rose up the all-time career lists at Tennessee with 7,444 passing yards and 69 touchdowns under Chaney’s guidance.
In 2013, Chaney went to Arkansas where there was less talent leading the passing game. But he embraced their running game, and the Arkansas’ offense averaged 31.9 points per game in 2014, completing a 180 degree turnaround from his first year.
His last stop before Athens was in Pittsburgh where Chaney balanced what was a run-first offense and helped Nathan Peterman become a consistent quarterback.
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Chaney has evolved his offensive style from the spread passing offense early on to the pro-style balance offense he runs now. But he still likes to run a spread offense, he still likes to pass the ball heavily. But he also likes to line up in power formations, and he likes to run the ball.
He is not an offensive coordinator that confines his players to playing the offense he wants them to play. If he has the personnel to run one style, that’s the style his team plays. And that is why Chaney will be able to get Georgia’s offense back to where it was in 2014.
Under Jim Chaney, Georgia will play to their strengths, where as they did not under Schotteneheimer.