Sam Pittman and Kirby Smart are playing starting quarterback chicken.
Sam Pittman is not interested naming a starting quarterback until Kirby Smart does.
Pittman was Smart’s former offensive line coach at Georgia, but he now leads a major rebuilding project at Arkansas. When asked on The Paul Finebaum Show when he plans to say who his Week 1 starter will be against non other than Georgia, Pittman gave us this gem, “As soon as Kirby Smart shares with us who his starting quarterback is going to be.” It just means more in the SEC.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman on when he's going to announce his starting quarterback for the season opener. "As soon as Kirby Smart shares with us who his starting quarterback is going to be."
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) August 27, 2020
We already know who will start for the Dawgs and Hogs, but we love this.
Pittman is the second Smart assistant to land his own Power 5 job after being with the Dawgs. Former Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker led the Pac-12’s Colorado Buffaloes in 2019 before taking the Michigan State Spartans job in the Big Ten after Mark Dantonio retired. Pittman replaces the worst head coach in SEC football history in the grease fire that was Chad Morris.
Arkansas is expected to finish in last again in the SEC West. The Hogs haven’t won an SEC game since Bret Bielema was their head coach back in 2017. With it being a 10-game, SEC-only schedule this year, the Hogs have a chance to end the skid with a victory or two this fall. It needs to happen, and that’s why Florida graduate transfer Feleipe Franks will be the Week 1 starter.
As for Georgia, Smart has two transfer quarterbacks on his team in Jamie Newman, formerly of Wake Forest, and JT Daniels, formerly of USC. With Newman being a redshirt senior, considerably more mobile and not coming off a torn ACL, you better believe he’ll be the Dawgs’ Week 1 starter vs. the Hogs. However, Daniels will get some playing time this year backing up Newman.
We love how incredibly petty this all is with a great game of SEC quarterback chicken. It’s like we’re back in high school or college and in a pool, trying to play this rowdy aquatic game. If we want to go pseudo-intellectual here, the Dawgs and Hogs are going full-blown Nash equilibrium with a rendition of SEC starting quarterback game theory. It’s a beautiful mind and not one to waste.
Prepare yourselves for Newman to start for Georgia and Franks to start for Arkansas in Week 1.
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