What does Jim Chaney’s history say about Georgia’s QB situation?

There is Drew Brees, but then there’s also Jonathan Crompton, Tyler Bray and Nathan Peterman. There is Joe Tiller and Lane Kiffin, but also Derek Dooley and Pat Narduzzi.

Jim Chaney, the new Georgia offensive coordinator, has worked alongside some well-known offensive minds and players, and left his own mark on several offensive units, including Arkansas, which scored 31.9 points per game with Chaney as the architect in 2014. With the Razorbacks, Chaney’s offense collected two 1,000-yard rushers and a 2,000-yard passer.

His newest challenge is at Georgia, where he will sort out and develop the three-player battle between Greyson Lambert, backup Brice Ramsey and five-star signee Jacob Eason.

#UGAFootball CAPTION CONTEST: What is #Georgia OC Jim Chaney yelling to Jacob Eason in this picture? pic.twitter.com/EbPknydiSU

— 960 The Ref (@960theref) March 16, 2016

What can we expect to see at Georgia? Let’s look at Chaney’s history for clues.

While Chaney led SEC offenses six of the past seven years, he put up big numbers with quarterbacks who weren’t exactly household names, especially outside of their own fan bases. Quite a shift for someone who played nose tackle in college at Central Missouri State.

Chaney was at the helm of the Purdue offense that helped Brees throw for more than 11,700 yards in college with a passing offense ahead of its time in college football in general and the Big Ten in particular.

Also at Purdue, Chaney coached Kyle Orton at quarterback, and overall, the Boilermakers led the Big Ten in passing five times and in overall offense three times. In 2004, Orton threw for 3,090 yards, 31 touchdowns and five interceptions.

It’s difficult to establish an offensive identity for Chaney because he went from wide open at Purdue, to smash-mouth rushing at Arkansas. In 2015, Chaney coached Pittsburgh running back Qadree Ollison to a season with 1,121 rushing yards as a backup-turned-starter replacing James Conner, who battled a cancer diagnosis.

Peterman, whom Chaney coached at Tennessee and Pittsburgh, was seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2015 in passing as a junior with 2,287 yards on a 61.5 percent completion rate, with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

At Tennessee, Peterman briefly replaced Justin Worley in 2014 before Joshua Dobbs took over after two series against Alabama.

Before Peterman, Crompton made 12 starts under Chaney in 2009, and finished third in the SEC with 2,800 passing yards, more than twice the number he had in his career entering his senior season (1,387).

Chaney’s arrival coincided with Crompton’s senior season.

While Peterman and Crompton’s experience could point to Georgia quarterbacks Lambert or Ramsey starting, Bray started the final five games as a freshman under Chaney at Tennessee.

If Eason follows that path as a freshman, that would also mirror the 2006 path of Matthew Stafford at Georgia, who wasn’t named the starter until midseason.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.