Hogs' New GA Making Huge Splash
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It's not often a graduate assistant gets to be this vocal. Yet, there he was, standing roughly at linebacker, barking out instructions and advice to the offensive linemen after each play.
"Remember guard, you've got to clear the center. You've got to clear the center. You've got to clear the center."
"Guard! Guard! Guard! You're running at him right here. That's where you ought to be. You want to go inside out on his [expletive]. That's where you want to be."
"You're selling and hinging of of me, the inside linebacker. If I run, you've got to stay."
That's a lot of command and knowledge coming from a GA. But, then again, he's had 40 years of coaching to develop his voice.
"When I called [offensive line coach Eric Mateos to hire him], I said I'm gonna be your GA," Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said. "So, basically, I haven't done one-on-one pass pro yet because we haven't had to. Well, they do it, you know, during team all the time. So, basically, [I'm] his GA during any individual and then there in indy, and then I'm his GA during one-on-one pass pros and things of that nature. So, I got about 30 minutes of responsible individual with o-line each day."
Taking such a hands-on approach alleviates one of the biggest complaints Pittman faced last season. Offensive line was the one area Razorbacks fans would always be a strength after so many years of the Arkansas head coach being regarded as one of the best to ever grab a whistle as an offensive line position coach.
However, the Hogs put out one of the worst offensive lines in college football last year, which essentially took the Razorbacks out of almost every game. It didn't matter how much talent might have been on offense because no one really got to see the offense.
Instead, there was an open invitation to pass seamlessly through the offensive line to the backfield. Sacks, tackles for loss, quarterbacks and running backs running for their lives and violent blindside hits became the norm as turnovers and losses mounted.
"We've got to shore up the offensive line," Pittman said. "That was a big issue for us last year. our younger guys who played are going to be much better. Of course we brought in three guys who are going to be good players out of the portal."
He seems to think he's found the right ingredients to fix the issue. Pittman just wants to make sure everything comes together with a good binding agent – him.
The most experienced offensive line graduate assistant possibly in the history of college sports.
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