Georgia Assistant Todd Hartley Provides Options for Kirby Smart
University of Georgia Tight End Coach Todd Hartley has proved himself quite valuable in what is nearing his 1st calendar year back in Athens.
Under Mark Richt at Miami, Hartley coached and helped to develop tight ends David Njoku and Chris Herndon into first and fourth-round NFL Draft picks respectively. Having this track record and having the ability to build strong relationships on the recruiting trail helped Hartley and the Dawgs land arguably the highest-profile tight end recruit in Georgia history with 5-star Darnell Washington. Hartley was also instrumental in the signing of potential Jake Fromm heir apparent Carson Beck and did a nice job integrating 2019 graduate transfer Eli Wolf into a key role this past season.
All of this is great for all of the Dawg faithful out there and for the program in general. However, Todd Hartley's greatest benefit to the program to date could be the flexibility and options that he provides Kirby Smart with.
As the offseason continues to roll on, changes continue to come and Scott Fountain's recent departure to join Sam Pittman at Arkansas has left a void at Special Teams Coordinator for Georgia.
Fountain will not be easy to replace. The Dawgs were excellent on special teams play this past season and Fountain was also vital on the recruiting trail, helping to secure Jalen Carter, Arian Smith, and Jared Zirkel in the 2020 recruiting class.
Todd Hartley served as the Special Teams Coordinator while at Miami and did so quite admirably. During his tenure, the Hurricane's special teams units ranked as high as 12th in the country in ESPN Special Teams Efficiency rankings. For comparison, in 2019 Georgia was ranked 50th.
In 2017, Hartley's special teams produced a first-team All-ACC Kicker and ranked 11th in the country in punt return average. Should Kirby decide to offer these duties to Hartley, he'd be more than capable of handling them.
If this is the direction that Smart and the Bulldogs take, it leaves room for another on the field coach on the offensive side of the ball. This could be a quarterback coach who could possibly receive the title of Co-Offensive Coordinator as well. However, let's make something perfectly clear, Kirby Smart is not going to make changes for change sake.
I think Kirby Smart's can be best described by Denzel Washington's line in his portrayal of T.C. Williams High School Coach Herman Boone in Remember the Titans when he utters the line, " I don't scratch my head unless it itches and I don't dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That's just the way it is."
Kirby Smart After Bowl
I firmly believe that Smart has confidence in James Coley and his abilities to call plays. Contrary to the opinions of many Dawg fans and talking heads out there, James Coley did not forget how to design and call a productive offense.
At Florida State and Miami Coley helped mold two first-round quarterbacks and four NFL QBs overall. While at Florida State his teams averaged 65% completion in the passing game over 3 seasons. Georgia's 2019 offensive problems were not all on James Coley.
Having said that, we have do anticipate an addition to the staff in a possible Co-OC, Quarterback Coach type role. However, the Co-OC title does not mean play-calling duties will be relinquished by Coley or transferred to someone else by Smart. Expect Smart to take his time and be thorough in his decision-making process. Lots of moving parts involved in processes like these.
One thing that is for sure, Georgia should be thankful to have a coach like Hartley on the staff that makes staff flexibility and options possible, while also maximizing continuity.
