JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - For a second straight season, Georgia's football team competed in a bowl with tight ends coach John Lilly calling the offensive plays.
Going 2-0 for Lilly was a lot tougher than 1-0.
"The last month has been a lot different, as you can imagine," Lilly said after the Bulldogs survived Penn State 24-17 in the TaxSlayer Bowl. "I can't say enough about our kids and coaches for staying focused on the task at hand. A lot of those guys in that locker room are going to be great successes in life, because they've lived through a lot of adversity and kept showing up to work."
Thrashing Louisville 37-14 in last season's Belk Bowl after Mike Bobo left to become Colorado State's head coach was a much easier assignment. Lilly turned then to Nick Chubb, who rushed 33 times for 266 yards in Charlotte, but Saturday was more about maximizing the talents of quarterback Greyson Lambert, tailbacks Sony Michel and Keith Marshall and receivers Terry Godwin and Malcolm Mitchell.
Lilly jokingly asked Chubb before kickoff Saturday if he had a carry or two in him but fought back tears after the game while discussing his eight-year run under Mark Richt, who was fired in late November.
"I might lose my man card on this, but I've been emotional a couple of times this week," he said. "Like right now. You love the guys you go to battle with as coaches, and you love the players. We've got some great, great kids, but this is life, and people go their separate ways at times.
"We may have failed to win a national championship, but we did not fail in my mind. There were an awful lot of positive things that came out of the time Coach Richt was head coach. I was only here for eight years of it, but those were eight special years. I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I have no regrets."
Lilly will not be retained by new Georgia coach Kirby Smart, but Kevin Sherrer will stay along with defensive line coach Tracy Rocker. Sherrer has been the outside linebackers coach but also handled defensive signals against the Nittany Lions.
"This is a great place, and I like that I'll be working with people I know like Coach Smart and Coach Rocker and the offensive coaches I've had the opportunity to meet," Sherrer said. "They're good people, and it's a big relief, because it's stressful on a family to have to up and move, especially when you've got kids who are high-school aged."
Sherrer said it's been challenging enough dealing with college-aged kids these past few weeks, given all that has transpired.
"There was a two-week run there when our world got turned upside down," Sherrer said, "and it's our job to come in and be a familiar face for the players and give them everything we can give them as a coach to make them comfortable. They're still kids.
"Some of them may be 23 years old, but they've never had a full-time job."
Georgia played Saturday without Richt and three 2015 assistants: offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt and inside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler. Receivers coach Bryan McClendon, who was the interim head coach Saturday, is headed to South Carolina under new coach Will Muschamp, while running backs coach Thomas Brown is joining Richt in Miami.
Lilly is among those whose future is uncertain, adding that his immediate plans were to take his wife and kids to the Cheesecake Factory.
"I'll be glad to be their spokesman," Lilly said. "I need a job right now."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.