Athens — It was a largely positive first news conference of the season for Georgia coach Mark Richt on Tuesday.

Richt wasn’t asked about discipline or player suspensions. There weren’t many questions about dealing with the hype of being No. 1. There were no tangible signs of angst or anxiety over Saturday’s season opener against an inexperienced, Division I-AA Georgia Southern team.

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Brant Sanderlin/ bsanderlin@ajc.com

Offensive line coach Stacy Searels will have his hands full this season with an inexperienced offensive line.

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Then the discussion turned to the Bulldogs’ offensive line.

Richt was asked if the line was his team’s Achilles’ heel.

“That’s a huge concern,” Richt said, “a huge concern, yes.”

Because of a season-ending injury to left tackle Trinton Sturdivant and the one-game suspension of guard Clint Boling, Georgia will begin its most promising seasons in 25 years with one of its most inexperienced offensive lines.

According to the depth chart released before Tuesday’s news conference, quarterback Matthew Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno will be protected by a line in which:

• All five players will be starting at their respective positions for the first time in their careers;

• Four of the players will have never started a college game;

• At least one true freshman will start in the first game (right guard Cordy Glenn);

• There are nine underclassmen — five sophomores and four freshmen — in the two deep, including a walk-on backing up left tackle (sophomore Casey Nichols).

• Their starting left tackle — arguably the line’s most important position because he protects a right-handed quarterback’s blind side — was a defensive lineman before last season (sophomore Kiante Tripp).

And this is supposedly the best team in college football?

“We didn’t have many guys last year but those guys stayed together from spring camp through the season,” Richt said. “This year we’ve juggled them around more than we did all last year put together.”

No reason for the Bulldog Nation’s most fervent followers to start jumping off ledges, others contend.

Yes, they’re young and, yes, they’re new to their spots. But Georgia’s linemen are big and strong, averaging nearly 6-feet-6 in height and 300 pounds.

“We’re all a year older,” said Vince Vance, the elder statesman as a junior. “A lot of us are two years older as far as being with Coach [Stacy] Searels. We’ve got another year under his training, his technique. This year we knew what Coach Searels wanted from us and we went into camp trying to give him that.

“Heading into Game One I’m pretty confident in the O-line. I think we’ll do fine.”

Ultimately Georgia’s line will be judged at the end of the brutal schedule. Last season its inexperience was exposed early in losses to South Carolina and Tennessee. The same teams await in this season’s first half.

In the meantime the best judges would have to be the players whose fortunes are tied to the big guys up front. They seem cautiously optimistic.

“We’re getting better,” Stafford said. “We’re getting there.”

Said Moreno: “Last year it was the same way, the guys were real young. But as the season progressed they got better. I can see that this year. Everyone is jelling together now and getting better each and every week, each every day. I think everything’s going to be all right.”