One thing I really like about the Sam Pittman hire is his recruiting prowess. Look at this list of linemen he’s signed:
Among the recruiting wins aided by Pittman:
• Denver Kirkland, an elite prospect from Miami who surprised many on his signing day by choosing the Razorbacks over the likes of Miami, Florida State and Ole Miss.
• Dan Skipper, a four-star prospect from Colorado who initially committed to Pittman at Tennessee, but flipped when Pittman was hired by the Razorbacks.
• Frank Ragnow, a four-star recruit from Minnesota who had offers from the likes of Ohio State, Wisconsin and Florida State.
• Sebastian Tretola, considered one of the top JUCO linemen in the country who was offered by Oklahoma, Florida and TCU, among others.
All have been named all-SEC in some capacity in their two or three years working with Pittman.
Behind Arkansas’ starting five this season were six more linemen who were rated four-star recruits by at least one publication. The Razorbacks have another top lineman, Iowa’s Jake Heinrich, committed to the 2016 class.
We’ve all complained about the talent level of the offensive line that’s passed through Athens over the years. One reason for that is that, for all the high school talent produced in state, Georgia has never really felt like a place that generates tons of great offensive linemen. But it’s obviously not as thin as Arkansas, either.
And that hasn’t stopped Pittman from signing the kinds of kids needed for that offense, because he’s shown the ability to bring in linemen from all over the place. Imagine what he’ll be able to do for Georgia.
Get The Picture 
The numbers game is exactly why a full-time special teams coach is so difficult to rationalize. Also, you can’t find guys at the college level who can teach kicking or punting. Does anyone know how Little Nicky handles STs because that’s going to be the default position?
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Sorry, meant for the ST thread
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LOL, I posted almost identical thoughts on the ST thread before seeing this. 🙂
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O-Line recruiting and succession was definitely an area that was mismanaged by the previous administration. Damned if it didn’t seem like every spring, Georgia was talking about juggling offensive linemen and concerns about depth. Even in years where the O-Line was predicted to be a strength for the team (and the years when it actually was) there was a lot of stress on the line that other schools simply don’t seem to have.
Here’s hoping the new staff does a better job of that. At least we’ve got at least three years without worrying about having a competent quarterback on the roster… knock on wood.
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Evidently CKS saw something that impressed him when Alabama played Arkansas the past couple of years. I like this hire.
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Minor point in favor of Pittman: Remember the 4th and 25 overtime play against Ole Miss? When the tight end lateraled the ball backwards his linemen reacted quickly, showing field presence. The also ran about 45 yards laterally and made the necessary blocks, showing form and agility.
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That’s true and very hopeful for the future of our line, but that play was pure luck and nothing else in that the ball literally bounced right into Arkansas’s best player’s hands.
If that doesn’t happen, is Alabama in the playoff without winning their division?
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A dominant o-line would be huge for the development of a freshman QB who shall remain unnamed. If Pittman is the guy to not only recruit but develop linemen, then this might be Kirby’s most important hire. It seems that there have been linemen recruited in the past who never developed to the level of expectation, like Theus for example. He came in highly touted but didn’t seem to become the dominant presence predicted and even lost the left tackle position by mid season. Here’s hoping that Pittman wins over a couple of four or five star guys for this recruiting year as the cupboard seems pretty bare right now.
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We haven’t had a strong OL since way back in ’02, which was a senior laden group all recruited by Donnan. How many seasons have we had since where, going in, we basically we’re all collectively saying, “well, on paper this could be a special team…but man I’m not confident in our OL.”
Hopefully those days will start being put behind us for good.
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I view Pittman’s hire as the one indisputable, positive change that has occurred with UGA football this year. We have lacked at OL performance for over a decade, impressive what we have accomplished with our offensive scheme given the mediocre, at best, OL product we have put on the field. There have been some solid individuals during that time but OL is one group that truly has to perform as a unit and work in unison. Even the couple of times we were supposed to be “semi-elite” we fell on our face. Pittman’s resume is encouraging.
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Now we could use a D-line coach who’s impressive. (if Rocker isn’t staying)
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Healthy Mr. Chubb + kick ass new OL product + any kind of deep-ball threat by Mr. Gatorade = Cedartown’s 1st Heisman
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Let’s hope Chubb can rehab that PCL. That’s a doozy of an injury he has to overcome.
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If anybody can recover from that, Chubb can do it.
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I think it’s a good point that Georgia just doesn’t seem to produce the same type of O-Line talent…but man…there are a lot of 4 stars that came to UGA that just didn’t ever pan out…Justin Anderson, Chris Davis, Kiante Tripp, AJ Harmon…and the jury is out on Sims and Baker.
The best guys from in-state Georgia has had are probably Glenn, Burnette, Andrews, and Kublanow…maybe Gates.
At the same time, T-Bob Hebert, Omoregie Uzzi, Chance Warmack,
JaWuan James, David Yankey, Max Garcia and Austin Sheppard…all drafted to the NFL from other schools like Stanford, Maryland…oh, and Tech and Bama.
UGA signs Houston and Gates.
I think JaWaun James was the canary…since then guys like Vadal Alexander, Brandon Greene sign with LSU and Bama…and then last year was an utter disaster with Edoga going to USC, Hyatt to Clemson, Valentine-Okeke to Auburn, Warmack to Bama, Harrell to Auburn, Kim to Auburn, Sharp to Auburn, Boulaware to UT, and Minshew to FSU. You had 10 O-Line prospects in the top 50 recruits in the state and you only sign Sage Hardin. Going beyond the top 50…Giela to Clemson, Bryan to Tech, Sandifer to Florida, Polino to UNC, Horton to Auburn, and Jones to Louisville…that’s 16 linemen in the top 100 players in the state and you sign 1?
Locking down guys like Cleveland is big…but not taking a year off here and there will probably be just as big.
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good post
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So what do we do with the 12 +/- returning OLs who evidently suck?
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As we should be fully aware of by now a good QB and a great RB can make an OL look a whole lot better than it is. Aaron Murray got killed at QB but was good enough to get the pass off before the mugging. Knowson, Todd and Nick are quick to the hole and the line only had to hold their blocks for mere seconds. Just look at the stats for Douglas. He was powerful but slow to the line. His ypc were always low because by the time he got to the hole it was closed. The real test of the OL that we failed a lot was 3-1 4-1. When it was man on man power we didn’t have it. We had to use trick plays or play action to pass for it. The Alabama game was over when the Alabama DL literally threw our OL back into our back field. We did excel at wearing teams out in the forth quarter. When you don’t have a real tackle on your team you know you are in trouble. Our TE’s disappeared because they had to help the tackles on just about every play. Schotty had his hands full because we had a really bad OL.
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What did Kirby say? O yeah Full grown men. Gotta Love It!,,,,,
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The curiosity of UGA o-lines is the underperforming while in Athens yet still make NFL rosters and starting at that level. Actually, this could be said for a lot of positions at UGA. Players you watch and get frustrated over on Saturday become 10 year NFL starters…
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