As a middle school boy, Buster Faulkner used to sit in front of the television and scour the sports section to follow Georgia quarterback Mike Bobo.

About a decade later, all Faulkner has to do now to follow Bobo is — well, follow him.

As of mid February, Faulkner and Bobo, UGA’s quarterback coach, are on the same staff.

For a Bulldog fan, Faulkner is living a dream, serving as a graduate assistant for the University of Georgia football team.

“I was a UGA fan growing up,” Faulkner said. “I remember watching coach Bobo play when I was a little younger, so it was pretty neat to get a chance to be part of that staff.”

Faulkner brought the opportunity to himself after meeting UGA offensive coordinator Neil Callaway a couple of years ago at Valdosta State as well as this summer recruiting his son, Russ Callaway, to VSU.

While trying to persuade Russ to join his brother Clay at VSU, Faulkner, a Blazers’ graduate assistant at the time, talked with Neil and made his interest in coaching known.

After finding out from a friend and former VSU teammate, Josh Lee, that there was a position open, Faulkner had VSU football coach Chris Hatcher place a call to UGA on his behalf as well as dialing Neil himself.

“That’s what these guys are supposed to do,” Hatcher said. “They’re supposed to move forward and further their career. It was a good opportunity for him.

“I was trying to help him every step of the way to get it.”

Throughout their meetings, Neil and Faulkner developed a relationship that built enough trust for the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator to bring him in for the job.

“He’s a very solid citizen, and everybody I talked to talked about how hard a worker he was and how diligent,” Callaway said.

“And those things are important.”

Faulkner’s official title with the Bulldogs is the video graduate assistant.

As the video GA, the VSU and Parkview alumnus is responsible for breaking down film along with helping construct practice schedules and scouting reports. NCAA rules do not allow GAs to coach from the field.

Callaway said that Faulkner has all the tools to continue developing his coaching skills and see more responsibility later in his career.

“He is a great young man. He’s done a good job to this point,” Callaway said. “We’re excited to have Buster here.

“Coaching is very rewarding and also very demanding on your time, but he’s been around it, played his whole life and seems to have a passion for the game. I think he’ll be fine.”

The Bulldogs’ gig is Faulkner’s second graduate assistant job after his first with the Blazers.

Before embarking on his coaching career, Faulkner passed for 3,836 yards while leading the Blazers to the national championship game in 2002.

“Valdosta State has a great program,” Faulkner said. “Coach Hatcher and his staff do a great job. I’ll defiantly miss being around them, but sometimes you have to move on in the coaching world, and hopefully one day I can be back down there working with them.”

Faulkner moved from one great program, a Division II past National Champion to one of the great Division I program’s in the nation to pursue a future coaching career.

“It is definitely a dream of mine always to play at Georgia,” Faulkner said. “I never had the opportunity, so I guess now getting to work here is pretty neat. I get a chance to work in the top 10 programs in the Untied States of America.”