When Georgia head coach Kirby Smart speaks to reporters at SEC media days next week, he’s going to get a lot of questions about his offense entering the 2021 season.

The Bulldogs made improvements last season on that side of the ball once JT Daniels became the starting quarterback. He returns for another season along with all of Georgia’s running backs, a bevy of talented pass catchers and all five offensive line starters from the Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati.

Georgia should have the personnel to be a very good offense in 2021. If the Bulldogs are to reach the same levels that Alabama, LSU and Clemson have in recent seasons, they will need to build off the end of the 2020 season, where Georgia averaged 486 yards per game and 37 points per game in starts made by Daniels.

The two men who can best help Georgia get to that next level are entering their second seasons with the program. That would be offensive coordinator Todd Monken and offensive line coach Matt Luke.

Monken, who doubles as the quarterbacks coach, did elevate the offense once he had Daniels under center. The two have spoken very highly of each other and are key reasons for optimism entering the 2021 season.

“As we’re able to move forward, a guy like JT, who is certainly capable of distributing the ball, understanding where we want to go with the football,” Monken said in December. “It’s an exciting time, especially for me. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to have a legit off-season, be able to study what we did, what the difference is that we want to change as we move forward.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Monken this season will be finding a replacement for George Pickens. The star receiver suffered a torn ACL in March and his status for 2021 is very much in question. The Bulldogs have talented options in Jermaine Burton, Arik Gilbert, Kearis Jackson and others who could emerge at the position. But Monken will need to consistently put Georgia’s offensive weapons in a position to succeed.

There’s a lot of optimism surrounding what Monken might be able to do in 2021. When you factor in the stability at quarterback to go along with a more normal offseason that isn’t as impacted by the pandemic, it’s easy to see why Georgia’s offense could improve under Monken’s direction.

When it comes to Luke, perhaps the biggest questions surrounding Georgia’s offense come on the offensive line. The Bulldogs struggled to run the ball in wins against Mississippi State and Cincinnati at the end of 2020.

Following spring practice, there’s still some concern about how the offensive line will shake out. The Bulldogs bring back contributors in Jamaree Salyer, Justin Shaffer and Warren McClendon.

But as for the spots they’ll play, that is still to be determined.

“We’re not where we need to be with the offensive line,” Smart said in April. “If we’re going to be a good team, we’ve got to protect the quarterback and we’ve got to be able to run the ball.

“That’s one of the areas we’re going to have to take the largest leaps to get where we want to go.”

Luke has done an excellent job when it comes to recruiting since he took over for Sam Pittman. Luke has signed six top 100-overall prospects in the two previous recruiting cycles. The question now though is how do those players develop to the point that they can address some of Georgia’s needs.

Redshirt freshman Tate Ratledge is perhaps best positioned to make an early impact in 2021, as he pushes for a starting spot at right guard. Amarius Mims, Georgia’s highest-rated signee in the 2021 recruiting cycle, looks to be an intriguing option at left tackle, while Sedrick Van Pran could emerge as an option at center.

How Luke gets the most out of the Georgia offensive line will go a long way in determining how successful the 2021 season is for the Bulldogs. If the offensive line is able to keep Daniels clean, the quarterback should be able to make the plays needed for Georgia to become one of the top teams in the country.

Luke and Monken will both need to improve on what they did in 2020. Neither is under any sort of serious pressure with regards to their job security, as Luke just received a contract extension. But Georgia’s passing offense and offensive line need to make leaps.

The two second-year offensive coaches will be the two who can best engineer those respective jumps in improvement.

More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation