How Georgia’s offensive line fell into its current state
ATHENS — Kirby Smart, in some ways, knew this day was coming. Where Georgia’s offensive line no longer was a strength but a legitimate question mark.
Through three games, this group no longer looks like a position group that was a routine finalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s top offensive line. In the season opener, Georgia started freshman Juan Gaston at right guard. The last time a freshman started on Georgia’s offensive line to open the season came back in 2017 when Andrew Thomas played right tackle.
Against Tennessee, Dontrell Glover earned his first road start because of an ankle injury suffered by Gaston. Unlike Gaston, Glover didn’t arrive in Athens until the summer. He didn’t go through spring practice yet quickly emerged as Georgia’s top option at right guard in its SEC opener.
So how did Georgia get to a point where two freshmen might start, or at the very least play a significant role, in the biggest game of the season?
“What a condemnation of the guys that we have on that roster,” former Georgia offensive lineman Jon Stinchcomb said on a recent appearance on “DawgNation Daily.” “And I say that with all due respect, this is an era where these are paid professionals. This is no longer amateur sports.
“These guys that are a part of this roster are being compensated. And we’ve got a number of players that have been a part of this program for a few years now that as we’re looking at this, you’re saying arguably are two best, and I’m not disagreeing with you, are folks that haven’t been on campus, that have not even had one single season under their belt, but yet have surpassed guys that have been on this roster.”
Stinchcomb is not some hot-take artist, looking to say controversial things to create headlines. He’s served as a member on Georgia’s athletic board, in addition to winning an SEC championship as a member of the 2002 team. He would go on to win a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints.
So his words carry real weight when criticizing the state of Stacy Searels’ room.
Searels now is in his second stint as Georgia’s offensive line coach after previously holding the title from 2007 through 2010. He was hired in February 2022 after Matt Luke stepped away from the position. After two years off, Luke eventually would be hired as the offensive line coach at Clemson.
The 2021 recruiting class signed by Luke illustrates what the standard of the Georgia offensive line used to be. Georgia’s four-man signing class consisted of Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild, Jared Wilson and Micah Morris.
The first three names on that list all started in the NFL last week, while Morris has become the anchor for Georgia’s offensive line at left guard.
But the 2022 signing class, which was put together under Luke’s watch, is where the cracks began to develop.
“We’ve had a large group leave in terms of two things, draft, and we had several portals,” Smart said. “And when you lose that in one position, it’s hard to replace. I have seen this year coming for two to three years in terms of a gap. Just didn’t know when it was going to hit because of Dylan (Fairchild) and some of those guys had extra years.”
Georgia signed five offensive linemen in that cycle. Only Earnest Greene and Drew Bobo are with the team still. Bobo is Georgia’s starting center.
Greene would be Georgia’s starting right tackle if he were healthy. But he’s battled a back injury this season and is listed as doubtful for Saturday’s game against Alabama. If he can’t go, Georgia could potentially play Glover at right guard and Gaston at right tackle.
“Maybe we’re better served moving a true freshman from a position, the only position we’ve seen him play in very limited time, to a whole new position in a different place because he could be better than what we currently have,” Stinchcomb said. “That, to me, there is a huge condemnation for the development of those guys.”
Georgia has signed 26 offensive linemen since the 2021 recruiting cycle. Three are in the NFL. Five have transferred out of the program, while another was medically disqualified.
That leaves Georgia with 17 offensive linemen to work with in terms of finding its best five-man combination.
Georgia never found that a season ago under Searels, even with having three top 100 NFL draft picks. Injuries played a significant factor in last year’s offensive line never gelling, with only Fairchild and Xavier Truss being healthy enough to start every game. Greene dealt with an upper body injury, Wilson missed two games because of a foot injury and Tate Ratledge was sidelined for four games because of ankle and knee injuries.
Georgia has started three different offensive line combinations to start the season and likely will make it four in four games in the event Greene doesn’t play Saturday.
“I could tell you who the best players are if they were all healthy, but the health brings that into doubt, right,” Smart said. “Like, if a guy’s 80%, another guy’s 90%, another guy’s 95%, it’s hard to measure who’s better. But that’s everybody across the league right now. Our left side’s not completely healthy. Our defensive line’s not completely healthy. You know, our backfield’s not completely healthy. And guess what? It’s not going to get any better — not with what we’ve got coming down the pipe.”
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
