ORLANDO, Fla., — When Sam Pittman left to become the head coach of Arkansas, Chad Lindberg listened. Multiple schools pushed for his services, the hardest of which came from LSU.
But Lindberg never really wavered from his picked of Georgia. With the uncertainty around Georgia’s offensive line coach position, he wanted to be ready in case he and the new hire didn’t get along with whoever Kirby Smart ended up hiring.
Lindberg did have a suggestion for who might be a possible replacement for Pittman, and he didn’t hesitate to let Kirby Smart and James Coley his thoughts.
“When Pittman left, I was personally thinking who was going to be here and thought Matt Luke would be a good hire,” Lindberg said. “I texted coach Coley and coach Smart, ‘I think Matt Luke is the guy.”
Pittman left for Arkansas on a Sunday. On Tuesday, Georgia announced that it was indeed hiring Luke to take over as the offensive line coach.
And then a day later they said, ‘Matt Luke is looking pretty good.’ That was my pick.”
Lindberg and Luke had a chance to meet and the latter quelled any doubts the former might have had. The day before the early signing period, Lindberg announced that he would be signing with Georgia, which is what he ended up doing.
Related: Matt Luke bringing high energy to shuffled Georgia offensive line
Out of League City, Texas, Lindberg is rated as a 4-star offensive tackle and the No. 168 overall prospect in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He’s one of six offensive linemen in the class and one of three Georgia offensive line signees at the Under Armour All-American Game this week. Lindberg is the only one of those three that signed during the early period, as Broderick Jones and Sedrick Van Pran are set to sign in February.
Lindberg is looking forward to getting to know some of his many teammates in Orlando this week, as there are eight Georgia commits and signees here as well as three possible future Bulldogs in Dontae Manning, Darnell Washington and Zach Evans. Those three will all announce their decisions on Jan. 2.
Evans and Lindberg both come from the Houston area and Lindberg raved about the nation’s No. 1 running back in the country.
“There’s some tough teams that he’s played against,” Lindberg said. “I just see him absolutely run over people. I know the running backs that my school personally had will rush for 150 or something and he’ll get 220 by himself.”
As for Lindberg himself, he’s looking forward to getting to Georgia later this summer. As for what he wants to be at the next level, think a player similar to Ben Cleveland’s skill set.
Just not quite with the mohawk and beard, which he joked he still can’t grow yet.
“I want to be the physical run blocker,” Lindberg said. “I don’t want to say the next Ben Cleveland because I don’t want to be big like that. But someone people admire for just how big and physical they are.”
Chad Lindberg excited about Matt Luke hire for Georgia football
More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation
- Sedrick Van Pran-Granger: All-American OL still feels ‘comfortable’ as a Georgia commit
- Incoming freshman Jalen Carter feels he can play a Tyler Clark-type role as a freshman
- What we learned about Georgia football recruits, targets at Under Armour All-American game media day
- Dontae Manning contrasts Georgia football and Oregon ahead of announcement
- Darnell Washington: The family side of his early signing period decision
- All-American week snapshot: Which UGA signees and targets play where
- Jordan Burch: Why Georgia didn’t even crack his final 3
- 5-star RB Zach Evans shares ‘strongest connection’ and scope of decision prior to Jan. 2 announcement
- Even Mekhail Sherman was surprised when Kirby Smart, Georgia football flipped Jermaine Burton
- Broderick Jones: The 5-star OT details why he is still committed to Georgia
