Georgia Recruiting: Taking a moment to honor Sam Pittman

Early classes:

Upon arriving in 2016, Pittman had a lot of work to do. UGA had failed to recruit offensive linemen well under Mark Richt. It simply never seemed to be a priority thanks to Mark Bobo’s scheme. The failed Brian Schottenheimer experiment left UGA with good skill players and no linemen. That’s not exactly a good thing if you want to play Kirby Smart football.

When arriving, Georgia had only one OL committed in 2016. That was Ben Cleveland, a massive man but also a massive project who was only 17 when he came to Georgia. Pittman got to work and pulled out guard Solomon Kindley just before signing day which gave him two big bodies to work within that class.

That obviously wasn’t enough and Kirby Smart himself identified the need to sign more O-line in 2017. Pittman delivered by signing what at the time looked like it would be an unbeatable collection of talent. It started with 5-star offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson, a mountain of a man who redshirted this year. There was Andrew Thomas, the polished tackle from Pace Academy who started the entire season as a freshman at right tackle and looked impressive.

There were also two very good guards in Netori Johnson and Justin Schaffer. The two played together at Cedar Grove and were just the type of road graders Pittman loved. Suddenly UGA had put together a huge class of bodies in one year. When combined with 2016, fans could finally see good linemen coming into UGA. Kirby Smart and Jim Chaney’s game plan seemed a lot more feasible going forward thanks to these additions.