Georgia fans were devastated to hear the news of the departure of former offensive line coach Sam Pittman in December.
Pittman assembled the best offensive line Georgia, and quite possibly college football, has ever seen … and he has the evidence to prove that.
The Dawgs had three offensive linemen go in the first 111 picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. Two went in the first round: Andrew Thomas fourth to the New York Giants and Isaiah Wilson 29th to the Tennessee Titans.
Georgia had never had two offensive linemen selected in the first round of the same draft, and Thomas became the highest-drafted Bulldog offensive lineman in school history.
Solomon Kindley was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the draft.
Pittman took the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas, which triggered Kirby Smart’s hiring of former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke to fill Pittman’s position in Athens.
The Athens Banner-Herald spoke with Pittman about his old players, and the future of the Georgia offensive line.
“I was proud of them,” Pittman told the Athens Banner-Herald. He was referring to the guys who stepped up in last year’s Sugar Bowl for the absent Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson, who sat out for obvious reasons. “Jamaree Salyer did well. Warren Ericson was in there and played well. Cade (Mays) jumped out to left tackle and, of course, I know he’s not at Georgia anymore. The new guys, I felt like they played about what they played and Coach (Luke) did a nice job of getting them ready. I was really happy, and happy to see them win the game. I was happy for the kids because they finally got a chance to step in there and prove that they’re good football players as well.”
Coach Luke will be without a key piece he thought he would have the Dawg’s 2020 offensive line, Mays. The tackle entered the transfer portal this offseason and transferred to Tennessee, his father’s alma mater.
Pittman had some nice things to say about rising junior guard Salyer.
“Jamaree played quite a bit more this year than he had in the past. He actually played a lot of ball. To look at him, you’re going, man, he’s probably not a tackle but he is a tackle and he’s going to be a really good player. He’s kind of a natural pass protector.”
The Dawgs will also have rising junior center Trey Hill returning, who is a likely NFL prospect.
Pittman was not the slightest bit worried about Georgia losing so much talent to the NFL draft, even though the Dawgs are now conference foes to him. Pittman knows there is a surplus of talented linemen at Georgia and has plenty of confidence in Matt Luke taking over what he started.
“There’s plenty of talent on that line there even though they lost several kids but they recruited well like Georgia always does,” Pittman said. “Xavier Truss is a kid that’s got a lot of talent. They’ll be fine. They’ve got a really good offensive line coach there. They’ll be fine.”