Joe Cox, now Ole Miss assistant, still has lots of love for Georgia football

NEW ORLEANS — Joe Cox clearly still has love for his alma mater.

The former Georgia quarterback is close with many involved in the Georgia football program, including offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. Cox was Bobo’s starting quarterback during the 2009 season before coaching with him at Colorado State and South Carolina.

He also wants his current team, the Ole Miss Rebels, to win Thursday.

“You’re so kind of entrenched in the room that you coach and the relationships you have with the kids,” Cox told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You do lose a little bit of the, ‘Oh, man, I can’t believe we’re about to play (my) alma mater.’”

Cox’s days in Oxford are numbered, as he will join Lane Kiffin’s staff at LSU as the tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator. He’s held that title for the past two seasons at Ole Miss and was the tight ends coach at Alabama before that.

But most of Cox’s time in coaching has still come with Bobo. He first got into college coaching as a graduate assistant on Bobo’s first staff at Colorado State in 2015.

It didn’t take long to see that Cox had all the makings of a special coach.

“That first year, he was a graduate assistant, I knew then, I’m making this guy full time as fast as I can because he just ate up with football,” Bobo said. “I mean, he’s a quarterback, but he lived with (former offensive line coach) Will Friend. When I say lived with, he wanted to learn so much about the run game, how to block it, why are we blocking it this way. And I’m surprised he’s not a coordinator somewhere right now. He’s got that kind of mind.”

Cox has worked under Nick Saban at Alabama and Kiffin since Bobo has returned to Georgia. The Bulldogs currently employ Todd Hartley as the tight ends coach, and Georgia didn’t experience any coaching turnover last offseason.

For as much as Cox has traveled across the SEC, he still maintains a lot of love and respect for the Georgia program. He was first recruited to the school as a 15-year-old and still regularly keeps in contact with people in the program.

“What’s really been cool for me is I met him when I was 15 years old, and just how, you know, our relationships changed, and watching him have kids and watch them grow up, and him watching me have kids and my kids grow up in this crazy world of coaching has been awesome,” Cox said of Bobo. “He’s been a great mentor for me throughout everything that I’ve done since Georgia. So, it’s been pretty cool.”

Consider that Bobo’s son, Drew Bobo, was only a child when Cox was Georgia’s starting quarterback during the 2009 season. Drew Bobo was Georgia’s starting center this season.

Cox also has a unique relationship and understanding with Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton. The current Georgia starter committed to Cox, Bobo and South Carolina during 2020. But when Bobo left to become Auburn’s offensive coordinator for the 2021 season, Stockton eventually made his way to Athens.

Cox understands the criticism that can come from being Georgia’s quarterback. It makes him better appreciate how Stockton has handled everything in his first season as Georgia’s starting quarterback.

Cox threw 24 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in his lone season as the starting quarterback, when Georgia went 8-5. Stockton has thrown 23 touchdowns to only five interceptions while adding eight rushing touchdowns and an SEC championship to Georgia’s trophy cabinet.

“I got to know him a little bit, and he is what Georgia football is about, especially from coach (Kirby) Smart’s standpoint of the grittiness, the toughness,” Cox said. “He is a true leader, and I think he’s a guy that, as the season’s gone on and he’s been put in positions where he had to shine at the right moment, he’s done nothing but gain all the respect from his team and the program and the fan base. He’s a fighter.”

Cox plans to share a few moments with Bobo and others before the game. During it, he’ll hope his Ole Miss team can come away with a win over the Bulldogs.