… has to be this guy.
When Sam Pittman left to become the head coach at Arkansas, many Georgia fans feared what his departure would mean for the status of the five offensive linemen who were committed to the program.
Thanks largely to new offensive line coach Matt Luke, they need not have worried.
With the exception of Florida four-star Joshua Braun, Kirby Smart was able to keep his impressive collection of offensive line recruits totally intact. Wednesday Georgia signed four-star Sedrick Van Pran, five-star Broderick Jones, and three-star Cameron Kinnie. It’s a group of signees that helped Georgia wrap up the nation’s top class in Rivals for the third straight year.
“Coach Luke is a big part of that energy. Getting him on staff fast was probably one of the critical roles to that transition. It wasn’t a long-time process where they had to sit on the unknown,” Smart said. “Two days, three days after Coach Pittman left kids, we had somebody new to meet, and we began to meet them before the middle dead period, the Christmas dead period. It was critical so that he could communicate with them throughout that period and keep a relationship. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been a blessing for us. In addition, it helps me from a head coach standpoint. It did help a lot on the offensive line.”
It was only natural to be concerned about how the staff would hold together the kids Pittman obtained commitments from before his departure. Luke did a phenomenal job of that in a relatively short period of time. Hopefully, he can coach a little, too, but that’s good work in the meantime.
Luke did a great job.
I thought it would impossible replacing The Pitt Boss’s recruiting prowess but it looks like it was.
LikeLike
As I said in other post, this was a huge relief. The recruiting hasn’t missed a beat. That just adds to the excitement that comes with the anticipation of improved coaching with our new OC.
LikeLike
Excellent job by Luke. Now to coach ’em up! (And I think he will be fine at that.)
Unfortunately, we’ll be replacing him and Monken sooner rather than later, especially if we have even more success. All part of the process though.
LikeLike
I thought Luke was fat and away the best realistic option we had for Pittman’s replacement, and the past couple months have done nothing to disillusion me whatsoever.
LikeLike
harsh
LikeLiked by 1 person
You think he’s not fat? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure I’d trust an OL coach who wasn’t fat. Show me an OL coach with a 6-pack, and I’m not talking about Budweiser.
LikeLike
Think Doug missed the “r” key and hit the “t” next to it? Great reply to a typo mistake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, we were all getting some tongue-in-cheek mileage out of a typo. Pretty sad!
LikeLike
I liked what I saw from Coach Luke on the sidelines of the bowl game and he has closed well in recruiting. Head coaching experience is always nice to have on staff. Seems like great win for the program.
LikeLike
Read somewhere that Coach Pittman actually told one of our recruits that he needed to keep his commitment to UGA. If that’s correct Pittman is really a great individual.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kirby did an excellent job of grabbing Luke right away. He may not be quite as good as Pittman but he’s damn close!
LikeLike