Kirby Smart on what Bryan McClendon and Mike Bobo bring to the Georgia football staff

Georgia’s Kirby Smart last month became the first head coach in 23 years to lead his alma mater to a national championship.

He brought back a couple of other former Bulldogs to join his staff in the last week.

Bryan McClendon, who played wide receiver for Georgia, will now coach that position and be the passing game coordinator. Mike Bobo, the former Bulldogs quarterback and a close friend of Smart, is an offensive analyst in the program.

Both McClendon and Bobo were assistants under Mark Richt. Bobo not only coached the likes of David Greene, D.J. Shockley, Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray but was offensive coordinator from 2007-14.

McClendon coached the running backs from 2009-14 including Todd Gurley, Sony Michel and Nick Chubb before coaching wide receivers in 2015.

“I have tremendous amount of respect for Bryan and the job he’s done,” said Smart, who became the first coach to lead his alma mater to the national title since Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee in 1998. “I’ve always respected him on the road recruiting. I had a lot of years at Alabama that I recruited against him in the state of Georgia, coached him as a player here, in terms of the way he carried himself as a special teams player. He’s a leader.”

More:Live updates: Georgia constructs the No. 3 recruiting class in early signing period

Bobo was a head coach at Colorado State for five seasons and then offensive coordinator at South Carolina and Auburn the past two seasons.

“I think it’s huge for Georgia that he’s there,” said former Georgia quarterback Joe Cox, who played for Bobo and was on his staff at Colorado State and worked alongside him at South Carolina. “He’s the best offensive guy I’ve been around and he’s got so much knowledge and so much left and so much passion for the game and just ideas. I know that he’ll be back in charge doing his stuff.”

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Smart said Wednesday that with Bobo “there’s a lot of value in the experiences he’s had. He’s been a head coach, he’s been a coordinator in our conference. He knows our conference. The five-hour radius we recruit in, he’s extremely versed. He has a ton of relationships that create value.”

Bobo’s exact job responsibilities “will play out as we go along,” Smart said.

More:Drew Bobo, son of former Georgia football OC and QB Mike Bobo, commits to the Bulldogs

McClendon was an offensive coordinator during his time at South Carolina under Will Muschamp and spent the past two seasons at Oregon before a brief stint at Miami last month.

They join Muschamp on staff. The former Bulldog safety and former South Carolina and Florida head coach is now co-defensive coordinator after moving into an on-field position last season.

“I’m big on fit,” Smart said. “Does someone fit the culture we’re trying to create? We don’t look at a lot of things that people on the outside world look at. I look at can they make our staff better, can they make our players better? Do they fit our culture? (McClendon) checked the box on most of those and was the best fit and wants to be here. That’s important to me and what we’re creating at Georgia.”

Smart still has an opening for an on-field assistant coach to replace Dan Lanning who, as defensive coordinator, coached the outside linebackers. Smart said whether he hires another outside linebackers coach is still to be determined.

More:Former Georgia football QB and OC Mike Bobo back with the Bulldogs and Kirby Smart

It’s unclear what role Scott Cochran, who moved to an off-field job when he returned from a leave, may have. He was special teams coordinator in 2020.

Mohamed Massaquoi, the former Georgia wide receiver, said he’s been in touch with both Bobo and McClendon recently about their return to Athens.

“Bobo is the reason that I’m even a Bulldogs, he’s the guy that recruited me,” he said. “The amount of love I have for him is just amazing. He’s as great as they come. B-Mac has been a big brother since I set foot on campus.”

He said McClendon took him under his wing as a freshman as a fellow wideout and helped his game when he returned as a graduate assistant.

“We’re lucky to have both of them back,” Massaquoi said.

More:Georgia football hires familiar WRs coach: Former player and assistant Bryan McClendon

Bobo will have a chance to work again at the same program where his son Drew is a freshman offensive lineman.

“It’s incredible that he got a chance to go back where he played and spent so many years and his family spent so many years,” Cox said. “I think he’ll enjoy time being back there but I’ll definitely be watching to see what happens because he’s one of the best out there. He’ll be back doing his thing very quickly.”