ATHENS, Ga. -- The process of figuring out why Georgia was able to improve so dramatically from 2016 to 2017 isn’t very hard. It all started with one position group -- the offensive line.

That unit went from maybe the team’s weakest link in Kirby Smart’s first year to a strength in 2017. The man responsible for that is Sam Pittman, a guy seen by his peers and players as an expert at creating unity and enhancing teamwork.

“Man, coach Pittman, I love him not only for me but for the university and the offensive line,” Isaiah Wynn said of Pittman. “Just the whole team in general. He did a lot of just being able to come and work with the guys that he had. He did a fantastic job. I think the whole team bought in to his teaching. Everybody trusted him in the offensive line room. He kind of made us become closer as an offensive line unit so I really believe that’s why this season we had such a great season, because he brought that mentality of us being all brothers in that room and we have to play for each other.”

Wynn flourished under Pittman’s tutelage. As a senior he was named a second-team All-American and a first-team All-SEC performer and is now considered as a late-first, early-second round prospect for the 2018 NFL Draft. He started 15 games at one of the toughest positions in football and shut down some extremely talented edge rushers.

Strength and conditioning coordinator Scott Sinclair deserves some credit, too. Wynn went from 285-290 pounds as a junior to 308 pounds as a senior. That extra weight allowed him to hold up a little better on the edge but the mentality and technique, that was Pittman.

He did that across Georgia’s front five. Kendall Baker went from nearly being placed on the scout team to reliable starter at left guard. Lamont Gaillard made a successful move from right guard to center and started 15 games. Pittman was also able to get two redshirt freshmen, Ben Cleveland and Solomon Kindley, and a true freshman, Andrew Thomas, ready to play at a high level. Considering how only Wynn and Gaillard came into the year with any experience, what Pittman did with the group was a near miracle and Georgia was better for it.

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A big part of that is what he was able to do with them individually but maybe more importantly was how he got the group to buy in to the team concept of protecting the quarterback and creating space in the run game.

“Coach Pittman does a great job in them having pride in their double teams, having pride in their points, them working to the second level,” Smart said of the veteran position coach. “They work as a unit as good as any group I’ve been around and they take a lot of pride in that.”