This is a busy day for all things Georgia and football recruiting on the beat. Dawgnation has been able to piece together a stream of thoughts and comments on the big Matt Luke hire from earlier today.
Let’s start with thoughts from two of Georgia’s out-of-state commitments.
Both are highly-rated among the nation’s top 200 players (per the 247Sports Composite ratings) and are also Under Armour All-Americans for 2020.
- Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (2020 4-star C commit) on Matt Luke: “He’s a good dude.”
- Chad Lindberg (2020 4-star OT commit) on Matt Luke: “I think he’ll be pretty good. Excited to meet him soon.”
Lindberg added that he already expects to see Luke on the recruiting trail today. That’s an active response to his first day as the Georgia O-line coach.
Van Pran-Granger and his Warren Easton team are still alive in the Louisiana state football playoffs. They will play in the state championship game on Saturday.
- Mike Braun, the father of Josh Braun, was impressed by the move: “This is a slam dunk hire,” he said. “Matt Luke is a great hire for the University of Georgia and a great offensive line coach. Hated everything happened to him at Ole Miss. He’s a great football coach.”
With that, the rest of his thoughts on his son’s future are still to come. It appears that Braun and his family will have some quick thinking to do. He was planning to sign during the early period and enroll in January as a mid-year for the 2020 class.
The 4-star OT had hoped to move to Athens later this month to take part in bowl practices with the Bulldogs.
His son, Josh, also respectfully declined comment on the matter for the time being.
- Jared Wilson (2021 3-star OG commit) on Sam Pittman and his current status as a commit: “I was in shock, as of now I am still committed.”
Wilson went on to add that he doesn’t know much about Luke at this time. Bet that will change.
Efforts to reach 5-star OT Broderick Jones and 4-star OT Tate Ratledge were not immediately successful.
Ratledge had aspired to keep his thoughts on the matter involving Pittman’s move to Arkansas private for the time being. Those two in-state targets rank as the nation’s No. 2 and No. 3 offensive tackles in the country for 2020.
DawgNation believes that Georgia still has a strong chance at this time to retain both of those two commitments going forward.
Matt Luke: The career bio and the Kirby Smart quote
These next two graphs are pulled for the Georgia sports information department statement release regarding the Luke hire.
Luke has a long history of coaching the offensive line at Ole Miss, Duke, Tennessee, and Murray State in addition to serving as co-offensive coordinator at both Duke and Ole Miss.
“We are extremely excited and fortunate to have Matt join our staff,” said UGA head coach Kirby Smart. “He’s a proven football coach who has a wealth of experience on the offensive side of the ball, especially in the offensive line. He has a great reputation among those who have played for him and it’s obvious watching his teams over many years that players love him and play hard for him.”
A former offensive lineman at Ole miss from 1995-98, Luke began his career as a graduate assistant at Ole Miss in 1999. His previous coaching stops which led to his head coaching position at Ole Miss included Murray State (OL, 2000-2001), Ole Miss (OL/TE, 2002-2005), Tennessee (OL/TE, 2006-07), Duke (Co-OC/OL, 2008-2011), Ole Miss (Co-OC/OL, 2011-2016), and Ole Miss interim head coach (2017). He was named head coach at Ole Miss where he served from 2018-2019.
RELATED: What will Georgia’s O-line recruiting picture now look like without Sam Pittman?