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3 critical Georgia football factors involving Sam Pittman's departure
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3 critical Georgia football factors involving Sam Pittman's departure
Georgia offensive line
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Pittman is a great recruiter, he brought in the cream of the crop. For some reason they didn't perform like the cream of the crop this year, why was that? I wish Pittman the best but I seriously have to question whether he has the planning and organizational skills required to put together and hold together a program in the condition that the Arkansas program is in right now. Not many quality coaches were lined up at the door for this job.
His loss will probably impact the current incoming class of OL recruits some but we have the depth to sustain for at least next year. Long term it will depend on who KS and UGA can attract. Maybe look toward the NFL for someone who can help build on a tradition Pittman started.
Jake Fromm regressed pretty significantly IMO, number one key. He looked shaky at times, lacked confidence, you can't be an effective leader if you lack confidence and I think this offense lacked real leadership. I truly believe they lost confidence in Fromm. His fundamentals were off, that's on coaching. The experts all said when Fields transferred that Fromm might actually benefit, he no longer had to share time, or look over his shoulder. That didn't work out.
The receiver group never grew up, injuries hurt for sure. Lot of dropped balls that were catchable, that's on the individual. Lack of imagination (IMO) with some of our schemes, poor routes at times, Fromm missed seeing open receivers during his progressions, mostly coaching. Not using the tight ends more, again coaching, offensive scheme.
The Oline underperformed, didn't reach their potential.
Kirby's going to have good defenses. The question now becomes can we have a high powered offense without a change in philosophy? If UGA doesn't change it's offensive philosophy then it becomes a harder sale for elite receivers. We'll be doing well to hold on to Rosemy if nothing changes. We should be able to compete every year for the East but with FLA now having found their QB and turning towards more of a passing show who knows. Things are getting tighter for UGA if Bobo goes to SC and with Tenn improving, you really have to be able to adjust on the fly, think outside the box, something I'm not sure CKS is comfortable doing. Credit to coach O for changing the culture of all defense and no offense at LSU in hiring BRady. Something similar needs to happen at UGA if we won't more than the East.
Staff changes are inevitable, especially with any successful program such as Georgia’s. The true mettle of a coach, in many ways, is how he keeps continuity, morale, buy in and motivation at a peak level. That is certainly not an easy task but Kirby is, I believe, evolving still as a young head coach and will one day go from being a very good to a great head coach. I believe, or hope anyway, he may have to do some soul searching with regards to his offense. But one thing is for sure. Kirby loves UGA and I feel he will work tirelessly to do what is best for the university we all love. Go Dawgs!
Doe Smart, Dan Landing? Jesus, Mike, your readers spend more time proofing our work emails than you do on your articles.
i have a hard time understanding how dropped passes, missed throws and open receivers is on the coaches. Plays are putting players in position to succeed, they just can’t/won’t.
This is just my opinion and some people will think highly different, but I really feel like 2020 could be the year that smart is coaching for his job. I understand he wants to run the ball, run the ball, wear them down. Well if we have no chance to pass, we can pound it. We may as well switch to the triple option. Our "next man up" looked terrible Saturday night. Next in line wide receivers couldn't catch a cold. So that's on hankton. Our d-line was trying to man handle the offense line of LSU, there was no kind of technique to get around the lineman. They just kept trying to push them back. And you can't do that and try to stay fresh all game long. So if smart doesn't make some different hires or change a little philosophy, he could be gone. Now with arguably the best assistant coach he had gone, he really needs to look at himself and do like saban, realize that ground and pound is getting harder and harder to do. I did feel bad for our defense. There were out there for what felt like forever. I don't care if they were the #1 defense. The offense killed our defense this weekend.
I will miss his BIg Daddy presence on this team, but from a coaching standpoint, In my book, the eyeball test isn't there. Our OL play was not that great. Big, yes. Great, no.
And this is not a knock on Sam, Who has had a solid career, But Arkansas had their backs to the wall. They had thrown out feelers and was getting nothing. Early signing day is right around the corner. Sam just got a big ole retirement bonus. Doesn't matter if he turns it around or not. He just went from coach to first class in retirement. Good for him. I'm sure he'll work his butt off for them.
Good Bye Sam. You had the biggest, heaviest line in the SEC,and sorry to say they were woeful, in pass protection,and opening lanes for the backs,who had to fight for every yard.Not that Fromm did not add to their performance, by not being known to scramble ,the opposing team knew they just had to stuff the line
Will Dawgnation ever do a column on why Georgia insists on running the option read with a QB with an injured ankle who is slow as heck even when he is perfectly healthy?
The LSU defense could not have been more unconcerned about Fromm keeping the ball on that option read, and who can blame them? Fromm never keeps it anyway, and if he did, he MIGHT gain half a yard, best case scenario.
Will someone PLEASE ask Coley/Smart why that idiotic play is such a staple of our offense?
Pittman is a big loss. Period. "Chemistry" is the word I was looking for...Thanks, Mike. Players react to chemistry. This can be an immediate loss for UGA recruiiting and it will cost UGA....but long-term things should change with the new OL mentor. That is just NCAA football. Post script: Smart needs to really look at this next line coach...he needs to change his philosophy about all this chopping wood bunkum. The defense is being worn out by lack of offense staying power...that was and is a lot on Pittman and Coley. UGA is at a crossroads...a lot depends on this hire. A lot! IMO!
Yes the buyout is large, I completely understand that. But how many boosters would pony up if we keep getting drug thru the mud in these super high profile championship games. 3 years running and we keep getting embarrassed for all the nation to see. 2017, up 14, beat by a backup in national championship. 2018, up 14, yet again beat by a backup, sec championship. Drug by Texas in sugar, lack of preparation/motivation. This year lose at home to sc, backup qb yet again. Lack of motivation most games. Sec championship 2019, looked absolutely lost on offense, defense give out by 3rd quarter. Our backup qb almost throws interception 1st pass. We have got to change something and fast. And hope we're prepared for next season.
Definitely true. I joked with my wife during that game that LSU equipment managers greased up all our wide receivers gloves and pickens had a whole half to clean his off, lol. I think they should go back to old school catching barehanded. Some people it does help. But it hinders others, to each their own on those gloves.
You know what, in the past three years, UGA has had the #1 overall recruiting class, signed two #1 overall players (Justin Fields and Nolan Smith), signed the #1 rated running back (Zamir White), had arguably the SEC's best placekicker, had the nation's biggest (and some say best) offensive line, had multiple players on both sides of the ball get taken in the first round of the NFL draft, dominated the SEC East, won an SEC Championship and a Rose Bowl Championship. But with all of those accolades, the one thing we do not have is a National Championship and the past two years we haven't even been able to play for one. So maybe once we aren't being all #1 at everything that ISN'T a National Championship, we'll work and play harder so that those things can happen, because someone is winning Natty's without having the #1 recruiting class, without the #1 overall player, without the #1 running back, without the best placekicker, etc. Obviously those players and coaches are doing something right to maximize their potential. Maybe we should steal a few pages from their playbooks. Shoot, if it means an undefeated season, an SEC Championship and a berth in the CFP, I'd settle for a 3-star QB like Joe Burrow, a so-called pedestrian defense that held us to only 10 points in a championship game and a no-name, oft-overlooked running back who the SEC's most productive back this season. And I'd even take an offensive coordinator who sat up in the press box and let a 30-something run the offense while he got credit for "checking his ego" at the door.
What's sad is how many of us feel about the current state of the UGA program. In less than two full calendar years, we've gone from a program a mere two plays from being National Champions (and a possible dynasty in the making) to one where people are openly wondering whether the head coach deserves to keep his job. Indeed, that's why my heart was broken back on Jan. 8, 2018. The "2nd and 26" loss to Alabama did far more than cost us the National Championship that night, it quite possibly cost us National Championships for years and years to come!
I understand the loss of Pittman, he was a players coach no doubt. At the same time our over-hyped offensive line VASTLY under-performed this year? We were supposed to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage and run the ball on anyone and I didn't see that occur really all year. 1-2 yards and a cloud of dust... He'll go to Arkansas and maybe win 7 games a year.
The loss of the Pitboss stings a lot, and you are absolutely correct in questioning what and where will we go with his replacement. I can't imagine Kirby turning the offense loose to a modern day version of the fun and gun, that's not who he is at his core.
Let’s not throw our O line under the bus. Teams learned early this season that they could stack the box with 7 or 8 men and shut down our running game . They also knew that our passing game success would be 50% or less . Our defense kept us in the games until overpowered by LSU. The solution is to overhaul the offense with top notch O C and a top notch mobile qb .