Sam Pittman agrees with Greg McElroy over Kirby Smart's crazy practice habit

Sam Pittman is familiar with Kirby Smart’s practice habits, even the unconventional ones. Prior to taking over as the Arkansas head coach in 2020, Pittman spent four years as the offensive line coach under Smart at Georgia.

This past week Pittman appeared on ESPN’s “Always College Football” with Greg McElroy, who played quarterback at Alabama when Smart served as the Crimson Tide defensive coordinator. McElroy brought up an interesting memory from that time, asking Pittman if he has adopted one strange strategy of Smart’s in particular.

“Do you ever do four offensive linemen against one defensive lineman just to send a message?” the ESPN analyst asked. “Because I felt like sometimes, and you came from the Kirby tree and you know this, we used to do half-line pass and there would be like five or six defensive backs working against two wide receivers. I just never understood how that worked out.”

The question caused Sam Pittman chuckle as he recalled his reaction upon seeing Kirby Smart’s drill for the first time. However, he went on to say that he tries to keep things more balanced in his practices at Arkansas.

“Man, you got a good memory,” Pittman said. “I remember that too and I was (confused), but I didn’t say a word. Like, that doesn’t look fair, you know? But no, we pretty much try to keep it fair on both sides of the ball. Same numbers. We try to make it where we can block ’em. We don’t hardly have an extra hat out there whether it be offense or defense.”

Smart is coming off of a national championship this past season, so there may be something to his unique approach. In six seasons so far in Athens, Smart has led the Bulldogs to a 66-15 record while making two College Football Playoff appearances. As for Pittman, he recently led the Razorbacks to their first winning record in five years this past season, going 9-4.

Arkansas and Georgia have faced each other twice since Pittman took over in Fayetteville, with the Bulldogs coming out the victor both times. The two schools are not scheduled to meet in this year’s regular season.