When Kirby Smart took over for Mark Richt after the 2015 season, one thing was evident — Georgia Football would look a lot like Alabama football. That was no secret and let’s be honest. Why not?
When you’re taking over a team that has had success in the past but trying to get over the hump of winning conference and national titles, it starts with changing the culture and mindset of the team.
It also helps to get it started in the weight room as well. Since Smart took over, the Dawgs have begun to take on a similar mindset to Alabama. The first few years, it took a lot of development by the coaching staff to get the players thinking like a winner, but it is coming along nicely.
When former Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman took the Arkansas head coaching job after the 2019 season, it was shocking, yet Pittman is the perfect man for that job. He is a first-time head coach, and he took some of what Smart and the other coaches he worked for and has already implemented into his program.
You don’t have to look far to see a lot of what Georgia was doing while Pittman was in Athens all over the Arkansas program.
Pittman wants to be physical at the line of scrimmage, and so he went out and grabbed someone who could help the Hogs get that physicality. He hired Georgia assistant Jamil Walker to be his strength and conditioning coach and brought Ed Ellis to join him. Ellis was Scott Sinclair’s, the Dawgs strength and conditioning coordinator, right-hand man.
Ellis brings years of experience and is also a master strength and conditioning coach. That’s the highest honor in its field.
Pittman knew when building this team; it starts in the weight room. Getting Walker and Ellis was huge, and now you can physically see the difference in the Arkansas players.
To have this much of a turnover from not winning an SEC game two years ago to now being undefeated and ranked in the top-10, Pittman took some of what he learned at Georgia and it’s already showing in Fayetteville.
Another hire Pittman made was special teams coach Scott Fountain. Fountain came to Georgia in 2017. Georgia had a super special teams unit while he was in Athens.
In 2018 Fountain became an on-field coach when the NCAA allowed teams to have 10 coaches on the field. Fountain was a great recruiter for Georgia and brought that to Arkansas. He also has deep roots in SEC country.
Pittman was able to take some of the key pieces that have helped Georgia succeed since Smart took the job and is being smart with his choices.
Even though the Razorbacks look tough and have a night and day culture shift from three years ago, the Dawgs still have a little more to offer than them. If you think about it, this situation is slightly similar to Georgia trying to become like Alabama.
Those kinds of culture shifts take time, and if you look at the national title game between the Dawgs and the Tide, Alabama’s experience at that level shined through and is one of the reasons they won.
Now there is a similar situation happening between Arkansas and Georgia. Pittman respects these coaches he worked for all these years, and it shows through his players. However, I do not think Arkansas is ready for what they are walking into Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
They are in year two with Pittman and are about to run into what six years of elite recruiting does to a program. While Pittman has made some incredible changes, they aren’t quite there yet. Arkansas may see the light at the end of the tunnel, but they are still a few years away from being this kind of force.
While watching the game, you will see many similarities, but you won’t see it on the scoreboard at the end of the day. Georgia’s depth from six years of Kirby Smart culture will outweigh Arkansas’s confidence coming into the game.