Mike Bobo to Call Plays on Game Day

[toddc 13,194]

Mike Bobo to call plays for Auburn; Harsin excited to 'blend' ideas

53 minutes ago

AUBURN, Alabama — Tiger fans are used to being perpetually unsure of the answer, so it was a worthwhile question Bryan Harsin was asked on Thursday: Who is going to be Auburn's play-caller in 2021?

In the Gus Malzahn era, the former Auburn head coach flip-flopped seemingly every other year on whether he wanted to be the Tigers' offensive play-caller. He even retook the mantle in 2019 after swearing off the clipboard for good just two years prior.

Harsin, bred as an offensive-minded coach like Malzahn, has called his own plays as a head coach in the past. But in his first season on the Plains, he'll take a backseat on game days to new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

"Mike’s calling the plays," Harsin said Thursday during his first meeting with reporters since his introductory press conference last month. "My responsibility right now is to help install and be there for the DNA for who we are on the offense side."

Well, unless something really good happens for the offense. Then Harsin expects all the credit.

"We both agreed I’ll call the touchdowns and he can call the other plays," Harsin joked.

Bobo was Harsin's first official hire for his inaugural Auburn staff exactly two weeks ago. The 22-year coaching veteran comes over from South Carolina, where he served as interim head coach for last couple months of the 2020 season after Will Muschamp was fired. Offensive line coach Will Friend also followed Bobo from the Gamecocks staff to Auburn.

Harsin said Thursday the two coaches developed a close bond in the early 2010s, when Harsin began his brief stint as the offensive coordinator at Texas, with Bobo midway through his tenure as Georgia's OC and QBs coach. Harsin also squared off against Bobo for five years in the Mountain West — when Bobo was in the lone head-coaching stint of his career at Colorado State, and Harsin was still leading the Boise State program.

Auburn's quarterbacks room will also be under Bobo's supervision. He inherits three scholarship passers in rising junior Bo Nix, sophomore Chayil Garnett and true freshman Dematrius Davis.

Harsin will be plenty involved during practice, and he'll certainly want his fingerprints on Auburn's offensive schemes. He's hoping to put his head together with Bobo and be able to brainstorm ways to find the most success for the Tigers.

"It’s open discussion," Harsin said of he and Bobo's ideas for the 2021 Auburn offense. "That’s the best part about having really good coaches together is, yes we have a foundation and there’s some non-negotiables in there, but there’s a lot of things that we want to work through and try as we install it. ... We’re having fun. We’re enjoying it. We’re able to work through some things. There’s some really good, healthy arguments in there, which you should have.

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"To me, that’s how you develop that conviction for what it is you want to do and the system you want to put in so we can take that into the meeting rooms and share that with our players."

That starts at the quarterback position, presumably with the former five-star prospect Nix returning for his third season as the starter.

"I always admired what [Bobo] had done at Georgia and the things he had done with his quarterbacks and how he had developed those players," Harsin said. "... I think the philosophies that he and I both have

[AUGoo 2,659]

PTL!!!

We got that cleared up early.  Now I'll know who to bitch about when we go with the RB up the middle on first down, HUNH.

[DAG 33,955]

As he should 

[oracle79 3,569]

2 hours ago, toddc said:

There’s some really good, healthy arguments in there, which you should have.

Now that's a novel concept.

[DAG 33,955]

4 hours ago, toddc said:

It’s open discussion," Harsin said of he and Bobo's ideas for the 2021 Auburn offense. "That’s the best part about having really good coaches together is, yes we have a foundation and there’s some non-negotiables in there, but there’s a lot of things that we want to work through and try as we install it. ... We’re having fun. We’re enjoying it. We’re able to work through some things. There’s some really good, healthy arguments in there, which you should have.

So crazy how this could never happen with the previous regiment 

[Old fan 47 765]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

So crazy how this could never happen with the previously regiment 

True enough. If we get a spring practice, we will probably be okay. Bobo is a decent play caller, but we need the O line to do their job. This may be a tough year one, but Bobo has been around some very very good SEC QB’s and coached them too. 

[aucanucktiger 1,789]

Not as big a story, issue or saga as O control under Gus. Malzahn had virtually zero HC experience when we hired him and he was clearly snagged for his incredible pre hire (2013) offensive resume. Period. His OCs were "what's the point" positions, even after he got some HC chops. The blame-sters certainly didnt shy away from pointing out his OCs - strangely enough - reflected his O preferences🙄. Harsin is here for many reasons but first and foremost his HC resume. He's not a wunderkind O guy like Gus was and giving Bobo real O control is, well, a non story.

[ScotsAU 1,311]

Call the plays. Don’t call the plays. I just hope Harsin is involved in the offensive game planning. I’ve said this already on other threads, but Bobo’s  offense is too old school. We aren’t going to win in the SEC running I-formation football circa Auburn 2004. If Harsin is helping to craft the playbook, I think I’m fine with Bobo executing it.