The beaches have re-opened in Jacksonville, Fla., which for resident Solomon Kindley means absolutely nothing.
“Coach, I’m not going anywhere close to those beaches,” said Kindley, a Georgia offensive lineman who tends to call everybody ‘Coach.’ “You couldn’t pay me.”
No, at the moment Kindley is interested neither in lounging on beaches nor putting his health at risk. The Bulldogs’ junior guard declared for the NFL draft in January and has been preparing for the events of this week ever since.
The NFL draft gets underway with the first of seven rounds Thursday night, concluding Saturday evening. Somewhere within all that, Kindley hopes to hear his name called.
“I just really want to see how it plays out,” Kindley said. “I’ve just been maintaining, grinding, working. The Lord has blessed me with a great opportunity just to be drafted and go to the NFL, so I’m just thankful for that and working toward the day somebody calls my name and my number.”
By all accounts, it likely won’t happen until the draft’s third day that Kindley gets his call. Most mock drafts have him going four through seven. But Kindley’s size and strength will tempt teams to take him earlier. He’s a massive presence in the middle of the line. He measured at 6-foot-3, 337 pounds for NFL scouts after playing sometimes upward of 350 pounds for the Bulldogs.
And Kindley played a lot for Georgia. After redshirting as a freshman in 2016, he played in 42 games over the past three seasons, with 25 starts, all at guard. He has been a fixture at left guard next to All-American Andrew Thomas the past two seasons.
Thomas, a fellow junior who some people project to be a top-10 selection this week, is one of Kindley’s best friends.
“That’s a beautiful thing, man,” Kindley said of the prospects for Thomas. “I’m just so happy he’s got good things going for him right now. We haven’t gotten to see each other much lately, but we still talk every day. Not usually about football, though. We’re just enjoying life.”
Like everybody else during the coronavirus pandemic, Kindley has been mostly staying close to home. He’s back at his mother’s house in the Moncrief area of downtown Jacksonville, not too far away from where the Bulldogs clash with Florida every year.
His routine has been working out daily with his personal trainer, Wayne Jones, a childhood friend and coach who also happens to be his godfather. He said they go to remote area of a local park where Kindley played youth ball to run football and conditioning drills. They lift weights together in a home gym.
For Kindley, the daily sessions with a trusted, lifelong friend in familiar surroundings offers a comforting, circle-of-life feel.
“It’s nice,” he said. “(Jones) is the one who should probably get credit for turning me into an offensive lineman, and I work out with him every day. He told me he thought that’s what I’d be best at, and he was right.”
Kindley said the biggest adjustment is being away from “my brothers and coaches” at Georgia, where he has spent the past four years.
“I miss those guys a lot, and it’s way different being home by myself rather hanging around a group of guys I saw every day,” Kindley said. “The good thing about it is I know wherever we are, we’re all grinding toward our goals, and that’s what this is about.”
Kindley said he’s not doing anything elaborate surrounding the draft. He’ll tune in Thursday night to watch Andrew Thomas and/or D’Andre Swift hopefully get first-round calls. Then he’ll watch a little closer Friday hoping he gets a second- or third-round call.
But even if his wait continues into Saturday, Kindley said he’s not going to stress about it. He is confident enough and feels he has proved enough at Georgia to know he can be a professional football player.
“I’m hearing second or third day,” Kindley said. “Hopefully, second round or third round, but who knows. I’ll find out when everybody else does.”
As for the Georgia team he’s leaving behind, Kindley believes the prediction of the offense’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The Bulldogs will have to replace four starters on the offensive line, as well as quarterback Jake Fromm, running back Swift, receivers Lawrence Cager and Tyler Simmons and tight ends Charlie Woerner and Eli Wolf.
But Kindley said part of the reason he and other underclassmen were comfortable with their decisions to move on is all the talented players that have been awaiting their chances to play.
“I think Georgia’s being slept on because so many of us have left,” Kindley said. “But trust and believe me, Georgia’s going to be one of those teams competing for those four spots (in the playoff). That’s the way coach Smart has built this program.”
Kindley even rattled off his prediction for the Bulldogs’ starting offensive line next season: Jamaree Salyer at left tackle, Justin Shaffer at left guard, Trey Hill at center, Ben Cleveland at right guard and Netori Johnson or Warren McClendon at right tackle.
“Right tackle is the position that’s really up for grabs,” Kindley said. “It always depends on who’s out-working whom.”
In Jacksonville or Athens, Kindley refuses to be out-worked.
