It didn't take new offensive line coach Matt Luke long to win over Georgia's fan base
Sam Pittman’s departure from Athens was a big blow to Kirby Smart’s program at the time but Georgia’s coach immediately turned the page following his assistant’s exit to take over the Arkansas program and hired an experienced SEC offensive coach and recruiter in Matt Luke.
How long did it take Dawg Nation to buy into Georgia’s new assistant?
They were in on Luke before his first game with Georgia was over.
With starting tackles Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson missing the game after deciding to declare early for the 2020 NFL Draft and Ben Cleveland academically ineligible for the game, Georgia’s patchwork line faced a tough challenge of preparing for one of the best defensive lines in the Big 12, featuring conference Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year James Lynch at defensive end.
Despite a few hiccups, Georgia gave up three sacks in the game, Luke’s offensive line paved the way for 130 rushing yards in Georgia’s 26-14 win over Baylor.
Outside of his unit’s strong performance, Luke’s intensity and energy on the sideline have Dawg Nation fired up about the future of the program’s promising offensive line.
As you can see below, Luke was a big hit in his debut on the Georgia sideline during the Sugar Bowl:
Love the intensity of Matt Luke already pic.twitter.com/5hsmwJBaOl
— ty gruskin (@tygruskin) January 2, 2020
“Milk it!” Matt Luke is a great addition to this staff. https://t.co/ADnUAMJ5t6 pic.twitter.com/ZSazXnL0Wb
— Jon Tweets Sports (@JonTweetsSports) January 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/dayneyoung/status/1212777122483163136?s=20
It was strange not seeing Pittman on the sidelines but I can’t think of a better replacement for him than Matt Luke. He made a HUGE great first impression and I can’t wait until next season! https://t.co/5flRKk0n54
— Hannah (@hannahfaith0997) January 2, 2020
Really enjoyed watch @CoachMattLuke coaching hard last night. Thanks coach we are blessed to have you as a Dawg!
— scott barber (@sb98714) January 2, 2020
Thoughts on Matt Luke managing to patch together that online when missing 3 starters? I was impressed given he’s only been there maybe 3 weeks
— Indefinite (@kfleem) January 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/CreekHouseEntt/status/1212766695972052992?s=20
@CoachMattLuke thank you for coming to UGA #GoDawgs
— burnitdown (@kirkless27) January 2, 2020
I'm glad Matt Luke landed at UGA. Good coach and nice man.
— Tony T. (@TonySoSuave) January 2, 2020
Even ESPN’s Holly Rowe was impressed with Georgia’s new assistant:
I have so much respect for new @GeorgiaFootball OL @CoachMattLuke
He could be upset after being let go by Ole Miss. Instead he chooses to get back to work and pour in to others. Much respect sir. Life is what you make it. pic.twitter.com/L4nDc3Yoyt— Holly Rowe (@sportsiren) January 2, 2020
So UGA fans are pumped about giving up 3 sacks and only gaining 130 rushing yards?
Half of our offense last night were second stringers.
I think Georgia did pretty darn good. They beat a good team despite multiple starters out. Great job!
Pumped? No. I did think they played pretty well considering we were down 3 OL starters and 2 RBs against a good Baylor defense though.
AS long as they finish ahead of the Gaytors, all is fine in my world
GAYTORSLICKSH*T
How come you gals don’t get pumped about beating UGA, oh that’s right, it’s been a few years.
Congrats on holding off that late charge by top tier, elite UVA. Quality win there.
No but we are still pumped up about beating the Gators. Again.
So that was your take on the point of this article?
I’m just asking if what the article stated is true? As far playing backups, that’s your team next year pups….
Yeah and next year, with an entire offseason of training, I’m sure they’ll play even better than they did in the Sugar Bowl. The sacks weren’t great (2 of 3 were because of one player) and the rushing yards weren’t great but when UGA needed yards on the ground they got them. I’m optimistic about our OL next year and happy to have Matt Luke on staff.
Some of you Florida fans are simply delusional…
Georgia was without 3 starting lineman, and 15 players who started at least one game. We are impressed that they even won the game. How many teams could beat a top 7 team with such losses?
Florida ain’t Georgia. Kirby owns Mullen, we get it. But some of you Florida fans really need to quit wishing out-loud. It’s not a good look…
Nothing worse than SOME Gator fans. I give credit to some on here with reasonable takes. But THAT GUY makes the rest of them look bad. We get it: Mullets a good coach but Smart has his number. Smart isn’t Mark Richt. Mullet is. No offense to Richt.
While Sam Pittman was an elite identifier of talent and recruiter, it puzzled me to see the O-Line struggle at times.
It may be that Matt Luke could be the better developer of that talent. The line did well last night considering we were down so many starters. It’s only a small sample size but the passion is there.
I never stated it but I believe you are correct. Pittman was great person and great recruiter. Not sure he is an elite position coach. Our line this year underperformed, especially run blocking. We never got better. I’m not throwing shade on the dearly departed; Pittman was great and we were lucky to have him 4 years. But your point is a valid question.
we might not agree with some of what smart did this year but he hit a home run with luke and i think this is going to result in better run blocking than pittman who was a nice fellow but too old and fat to motivate the run blocking
Sometimes you’re pretty da mm funny…lol
To date Luke has a great resume as an assistant. He stepped into a no-win situation as the Ole Miss HC.
If Luke turns out to be a good assistant and recruiter at UGA we’ll have him for 2-3 years before a mid-tier team hires him as a JC.
… hires him as a JC.
Dangit
… hires him as a JC.
I give up, my hands just weren’t made for smart phones
… HC
They badly need an edit function on this site.
Imo Luke wont get many HC offers and the ones he gets wouldnt pay much more than his $900k at Ga. So Miss coach makes $500k for example
Maybe Luke is a better position coach than his stint as a head coach…maybe. I know all loyal Dawg fans are hoping so.
I think Luke had a better tenure at Ole Miss than Orgeron did. Luke definitely had a much better resume as an assistant than Derrick Dooley did when UT hired Dooley.
Muschamp stepped into a much better situation at UF than did Luke at Ole Miss.
Look at Kiffin’s track record as a HC, Ole Miss just hired him.
Is Saban really a great “coach” or has Saban mastered recruiting and hiring/managing staff?
Pittman is a great recruiter and a good position coach, Ark just hired him.
Let Luke have success at UGA and somebody, somewhere at a Power 5 school will roll the dice on him. It won’t be bama, UGA, Texas, Michigan, USC etc but it could be a UK, Mizzou, NC State, Kansas, W Virginia level program.
I think under Luke’s watch our OL is going to be OK. I really like his energy on the field and think recruits will flock to that type of position coach.
Pittman was a beast at bringing in top line prospects. But after all the talent was onboard, they under performed.
Luke did a great job considering he didn’t have two all American candidates at Tackle and another player at Guard.
Maybe Pittman was losing interest in only being a O- line coach and wanted more?
Either way, I won’t be surprised to see improved line play next year. Coach Luke is very active and involved with his players. You could see they were feeding off his energy.
Great job coach Like!