Blaske's Journey: Part 2
When word first leaked out that Georgia had offered a relatively unknown offensive lineman named Austin Blaske a scholarship, readers on Bulldog message boards rushed to click on his recruiting bio.
Upon reading, many looked bewildered.
A three-star?
What was Kirby Smart thinking? The Bulldogs were on the verge of signing arguably their most stacked class of offensive linemen in ever, maybe the best offensive line class in the history of Rivals rankings.
What happened? What went wrong? Was somebody decommitting? Why was Smart wasting a scholarship?
In an era when so much emphasis is placed on stars and perceived pecking order, the fact that Blaske was almost a complete unknown raised more than a few questions.
Even most reporters who cover college recruiting for a living didn't know who he was.
Couple that with the fact Blaske stopped posting his offers following his initial commitment to North Carolina State, many got the wrong impression that the young offensive tackle wasn’t quite sought after.
While it’s true Georgia didn't offer Blaske a scholarship until right before the early signing period was set to begin, he was more of a wanted man than many thought.
Selling himself
A last-minute decision to visit North Carolina State prior to a regional camp for The Opening in Charlotte resulted in Blaske receiving the first major offer.
“We were traveling, and I figured, hey, let’s visit a school,” Austin's father Andrew Blaske told UGASports. “We called North Carolina, but nobody was home.”
But a coach answered at North Carolina State, and the Wolfpack made quite the impression.
“I already knew there was a group from the area going over there. My son fell in love with the place,” Andrew Blaske said. “So Austin let them know, 'Hey, I’m going to be in the area this day.' Within five minutes, he had a text back saying, 'Heck yeah, can you come by earlier, before this first group is supposed to be here?' That was basically the recruitment of Austin to N.C. State. So we went there, and Austin fell in love.”
Not long after, Austin committed to the Wolfpack.
His recruitment, it seemed, appeared settled. Blaske was going to play his college football in Raleigh.
So much so, it was at that point when Blaske did something most recruits never do: He stopped posting his other offers.
“He was still getting offers all the way to, you know, the weekend before Signing Day. I think when it came down to it, he had 35 committable offers,” Andrew Blaske said. “If you take the assumption on some of the other ones that said, 'Hey, we know you committed to NC State, but if you change your mind, we want you to call us' — that would take it to 43. We're talking some of the big dogs. Tennessee was still on him up to the week before Signing Day, and that started even before Georgia came along.”
Refuting another myth
In reading some of the stories surrounding Georgia’s recruitment of Blaske, one might get the idea that the Bulldogs jumped in on him late.
That wasn’t the case at all.
According to Andrew Blaske, his son had actually been on a Georgia’s board for a while. In fact, Bulldog coaches had invited Blaske to come up for a visit several times. But it wasn’t until April 4 of last year that the elder Blaske, Austin, and younger brother Aaric jumped in the truck for the three-and-a-half hour-drive to Athens to take in a Bulldog practice.
That’s when the phone rang.
“We get about halfway up there, and I've got a phone call from the school (South Effingham) saying, 'Hey, just want to let you know your wife just left here. She's meeting your mother-in-law at the hospital—she got in a car accident,'” Andrew Blaske said.
“So I pulled over. We're probably halfway, maybe two-thirds of the way over. Okay, we need to figure out what's wrong with Grandma. I finally get my wife on the phone probably a half-hour later. She tells us she’s going to be OK, and for us to continue on.”
The delay did cause the Blaskes to be late, and the Bulldogs were already on the field when head coach Kirby Smart walked up.
After shaking hands, Smart and the family exchanged pleasantries before heading off to start practice.
Before leaving, Smart advised, “Y’all go anywhere you want to, just don’t get in the middle of my play, and maybe we’ll see you after practice.”
So, that’s what the Blaskes did.
The trio proceeded to head over to where offensive line coach Sam Pittman was conducting drills.
“I'm not a shy guy. Austin' was saying, 'We can't go over there.' I'm like, son, Coach Smart said we go where we want. Just don't get in the middle of a play,” Andrew Blaske said. “So, we're right there after the drill, sitting there, I mean, I could have put a measuring tape on there and measured the butt sweat off Ben Cleveland.”
After practice was over, Smart walked up again.
“He asked, ‘You guys learn anything?’ We’re like, Oh, yes sir, a lot of good stuff! And he goes, 'All right, good, because I’m sure Coach Pittman has been talking to you, and you guys have a date?'”
Silence.
“I’ve never met Coach,” Blaske said.
“That’s when Coach goes, 'Hey Pitt, come here,'” Andrew Blaske said. “He was coming as fast as he could; he was probably 40-50 yards away. So, he comes up, he’s super friendly, and says, ‘I was hoping to catch up with y’all.'”
Blaske laughed, recalling what happened next.
“A lot of these coaches, when they reach out to shake his hand, they’ve got the other hand going up and down his bicep. Then they rub against his face to see if he’s shaving,” he said. “I’m chuckling, because I’ve seen this a bunch of times, and then Pittman asks, 'How much do you weigh?' The way he said it, I knew what he was getting at, because Coach Pittman had a number in his head.”
When he was told 286, Pittman ordered an assistant to check Blaske’s weight.
The Blaskes, Smart, and Pittman were talking when the assistant returned with the results.
“So, how much does he really weigh?” Pittman asked.
“He’s only 284 today,” the assistant said.
That’s when Smart chimed in. “Where do you hide it?”
“I’m just solid,” responded Austin.
That's when Dad chimed in: “Well, it’s like this. He's got my height and his mama's ass,” Blaske said.
“Everyone started cackling. I mean, it was fine. Coach said, 'You wouldn't say that about his mom if she was here.' But Austin said, 'Yes, yes, he would!'”
Sticking to his guns
A few weeks later, Georgia called Blaske to check on his interest and see if he’d be interested in attending the Bulldogs’ annual lineman camp held each summer.
But the answer was no.
“We (South Effingham) had just hired a new coach, a new line coach, and we were getting ready to start summer workouts, all that stuff,” Blaske recalled. “It was nothing against Georgia. But you’ve got to realize that kid had never missed a practice since seventh grade for anything—not camps, not visits, nothing. He even waived his qualification for the state track meet because the sections were the first day of spring football practice, and because we had a new head coach with a new system, he didn’t go. That’s his dedication.”
Blaske figured that would be the last his son would hear from the Bulldogs.
There was no offer, and certainly one wasn’t coming now.
The decision
Months passed; Pittman accepted the head coaching job at Arkansas, with Smart bringing in Matt Luke to coach the offensive line.
The former Ole Miss head coach was poring over tape when he noticed that Blaske was still on Pittman’s board, and went to talk to Smart.
After that, the two watched more film—this time from Blaske’s senior year—along with a video of him squatting 605 pounds.
That was all the convincing Luke needed.
The elder Blaske recalls sitting on his couch watching Monday Night football when Austin came running down the hall.
“He said, ‘Dad, check our phone. Georgia just offered me,'” said Blaske. “Inside, I’m like, Oh $&#!. But then I say, "Okay, you need to sit on this. You’re going to think about this; give it 24 hours. Tomorrow, after wrestling practice, you can call them back.'”
Knowing his son’s dream had always been to play for Georgia, Andrew Blaske said it was tough to hide his excitement.
“The whole time I’m keeping a poker face. Inside, I’m telling myself this is absolutely incredible. I knew he could do it. I thought the time had passed,” Blaske said. “But there were some cons, too; he was gonna have to eat $&#! sandwich. But we got back to the house, and I said, 'It's your decision. I will back you 100 percent either way.'”
Austin placed the call. Andrew explain what happened next:
“He said, 'Coach, can I call you back in five minutes?' He wanted to call North Carolina State first.”
When his son called UGA back, the Bulldog coaches asked what the delay was all about.
“'I just needed to call N. C. State first.'"
That worried the Georgia coaches. "They asked, ‘OK, what does that mean?’"
"‘It means I’m ready to be a Bulldog.' Everybody went crazy after that.”
No regrets
Naturally, North Carolina State fans weren’t happy, and let the Blaskes know it on various forms of social media.
“That was part of the sandwich, and hey, I got destroyed a little bit, too,” Andrew Blaske said. “I had made the comment about his commitment to North Carolina State being a blood contract, and at the time it was. Never did I think Georgia was going to come knocking, because Austin had done everything he could not to be recruited by Georgia, even though it was his dream school.”
Ultimately, there were no regrets.
Although the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will keep students off campus until later this summer, Blaske’s journey in Athens will eventually get underway.
Once he does, the next chapter will begin.
