I’m just curious what the general impression around here is about Matt Luke’s two-year stint in Athens.
If there’s one complaint I had, it was about sticking with Ericson at right guard and appearing a little hesitant to move Salyer inside, but, admittedly, I didn’t see what the coaches saw in practice regarding whether or not Jones was ready to be plugged in at left tackle. (That being said, I thought he handled himself well in the national championship game.)
But there were plenty of pluses, too. Perhaps the biggest one was timing. Nobody expected Pittman would be offered a head coaching job and it was fortuitous that Luke happened to be available right when Kirby needed a replacement. And judging by this, there really wasn’t much of a drop off in production, if at all.
That came despite a significant change in scheme between the two position coaches. Georgia liked pulling o-linemen more under Luke, while Pittman’s lines were more about road grading. That change called for different physical characteristics, too. I do wonder how much better the o-line might have been this past season had Ratledge not been lost for the season; at G-Day, he appeared to be the most polished lineman when it came to pulling.
Also, Luke finished the drill on the recruiting front in the wake of Pittman’s departure, hanging on to Jones and Mims. He also deserves credit for Van Pran’s development at center this season.
All in all, it’s a solid resume, solid enough that I’m a little surprised at some of the sentiment I’ve seen cropping up on social media after Luke’s announcement that he was a bit of a disappointment. What do y’all think?
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