Ironically enough, after calling for him to go years ago, many Georgia fans were recently clamoring for the return of Mike Bobo to Athens. Kirby Smart had the opportunity to bring his good friend back to Georgia but instead, the former Colorado State head coach and Georgia offensive coordinator was hired by Will Muschamp to run the South Carolina offense.

Now the Bulldogs will have to compete against Bobo next season, instead of having him on the staff in Athens.

During his recent media availability, Kirby Smart was asked about the interest he may have had in bringing Bobo back to UGA.

“Yeah, I talk to Mike often, and we’re really good friends. But as far as any conversation about coming to coach at the University of Georgia, no,” Smart responded. “He and I conversed about what he was going to do when he was let go, but that was during the week of the LSU game.

“As far as any other changes or anything like that, that’s decided after the bowl game, after we look back at the whole year. We’re working really hard right now on Baylor, on giving our kids an opportunity to play, and that’s really where our focus is.”

Those are some interesting comments, to be sure, as Smart seemed to indicate more changes to his Georgia staff could be coming in the weeks to come. While that doesn’t necessarily mean any assistant will be let go, maybe Smart knows a few of his assistants could be leaving one way or another after the season once the assistant coaching carousel really gets moving.

The one assistant change that has already occurred in Athens came when offensive line coach Sam Pittman left to take over at Arkansas. In his place, Smart hired former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke.

Smart seemed very pleased to land the former Rebel and Georgia has already begun to see that hire pay off on the recruiting trail.

“We were really fortunate and excited to get him,” Smart said regarding Luke. “The minute that I found out about Sam (Pittman), he’s the first guy that came to my mind and wanted to visit with, I’ve had a lot of respect for the job he’s done, everywhere he’s been from the years he was at Duke. He kind of came up under Coach (David) Cutcliffe and played for him and has been a good friend of mine for a long time.

“Got a lot of respect for what he does, how he does it. I’ve been in SEC meetings now with him for a while. Very sharp, very intelligent guy. That’s kind of come to the realization on the road. When you go into home with him, he’s got command. He’s got presence. Kids like him. His team there, all the guys on their team loved him as a head coach. To do what he’s done in the short amount of time he’s done it is pretty remarkable because it was a tough timing situation.”