Tag: Matt Luke uga

Rival SEC commit visits Georgia football staff in Athens

Ole Miss pledge Daran Branch is in Athens for weekend to meet with Kirby Smart and Matt Luke.

The Georgia Bulldogs have a visitor on campus committed to a conference rival.

Ole Miss pledge Daran Branch is in Athens for weekend to meet with Kirby Smart and company. His primary recruiter is Matt Luke, former University of Mississippi head coach and current offensive line coach at Georgia.

It will be one of Branch’s five allotted official visits.

Branch, a three-star senior cornerback out of Amite, Louisiana, committed to Ole Miss on November 17, two weeks before Luke was ousted from Oxford.

The lengthy cornerback certainly fits Kibry Smart’s mold for an ideal defensive back’s size and has the speed, awareness, and ball skills to be a ball hawk at safety.

Georgia’s 2020 defense will return the vast majority of the team’s 2019 starters, but only have two cornerbacks (five-star Kelee Ringo and four-star Jalen Kimber, the latter of whom already enrolled at UGA) and one saftey (Major Burns, enrolled) in the 2020 class.

Branch previously committed to Miami in March. It seems like a spot is there for him in Athens given his relationship with Matt Luke, but his commitment will be one to keep on eye on in the next week and a half before National Signing Day.

Look: Georgia OL Coach Matt Luke was hyped at the Sugar Bowl

Georgia offensive line coach Matt Luke brings passion and energy to the Sugar Bowl

Newly hired Georgia football offensive line coach Matt Luke is already bringing the energy to this Bulldog team.

Don’t believe us? Just take a look at some of these clips from last night’s Sugar Bowl.

 

Losing Sam Pittman is obviously a big deal in Athens, but the former Ole Miss head coach hired two days after is doing a solid job so far.

After Wednesday’s 26-14 win over Baylor in New Orleans, many fans were quick to praise Luke for his added enthusiasm and energy given off inside the program. It’s safe to say he’s off to a great start.

How much is Georgia’s new OL coach Matt Luke making?

Here’s how much Georgia football’s new OL coach Matt Luke is making a year at UGA.

Georgia wasted no time finding a replacement for Sam Pittman, the Bulldogs’ former offensive line coach who is now the head man at Arkansas.

Pittman was about as good as there was at his job, securing commit after commit and building the Great Wall of Georgia.

He also served as the Dawgs’ associate head coach.

And he was paid nicely for it, too.

At Georgia, Pittman earned $900,000 in his final season, a crazy price tag for a position coach, but one that was well-deserved.

Shortly after Pittman left for Arkansas, the Dawgs secured his replacement: Matt Luke, the former Ole Miss head coach who has a long history of coaching offensive linemen.

Luke will also serve as associate head coach.

According to an open records request that was submitted and obtained by Dawgs247, Luke will also make $900,000 at Georgia.

From Dawgs247:

The length of the contract was not included in the information Dawgs247 was able to obtain. He’ll be paid $375,000 in base salary with $525,000 coming as additional compensation.

Anyone else think they took the wrong career path?

Look: David Pollack loves new UGA OL coach Matt Luke

David Pollack was excited about UGA football’s hiring of Matt Luke.

On Monday, it was announced that the Georgia Bulldogs would be hiring former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke to be the team’s new offensive line coach and associate head coach.

The move followed the departure of former offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who took his talents to Arkansas and excepted the head coaching position for the Razorbacks.

Count former Dawg and current college football analyst David Pollack among those who are in favor of the signing of Luke.

As Pollack notes, Luke has a wealth of experience in the college football world. He previously coached tight ends and lineman at Ole Miss, Tennessee, and also head coached at Ole Miss for the last three season before his dismissal last week.

Let’s hope Pollack is right and this turns out to be a quality hire for the Dawgs.

Twitter reacts to Georgia’s big time hiring of Matt Luke as OL coach

Georgia football made a big splash hiring Matt Luke and UGA Twitter reacted.

Matt Luke, who was fired as head coach of Ole Miss on December 1st, has accepted the position of offensive line coach at Georgia.

Luke fills a void left by former o-line coach Sam Pittman, who took the position of head coach at Arkansas.

For Georgia, this was about as good of a hire as possible. To get a head coach from an SEC school to come coach a position group is a big move, and Kirby Smart pulled it off.

A few hours before the news, former Georgia offensive linemen David Andrews and Brandon Kublanow both tweeted about how good of a hire this would be if Georgia were able to make it happen.

Now, with the hiring being confirmed by Georgia, Bulldog fans can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to picking up where we left off with Pittman.

Here are some social media reactions to the news.