ATHENS — Dylan Fairchild is just different.
He was best known as a state champion wrestler in high school. He uses words like “plethora.” He complains that he and his English 1102 classmates are being used as “guinea pigs” because of a recent change in format. His Georgia football teammates call him “Pickle.”
You know, dill as in “Dyl.”
Fairchild said you can blame former Bulldog Amarius Mims for that one.
“Then everybody else just kind of took it and ran with it,” he shared with a snicker this week.
Add All-American to Fairchild’s roll of monikers. After earning second-team All-American honors as a sophomore guard last season, Fairchild opens the 2024 campaign as an Associated Press first-team preseason All-American.
That’s quite a leap from not starting a game until his third college season and playing scout team his first two. But Fairchild said not being able to crack Georgia’s travel squad for two years is a big part of his “why” for pouring so much passion and energy into being a college football player.
Fairchild shared that insight with teammates recently as the Bulldogs went through the annual rite of passage they call “skull sessions.” Players are asked to take turns coming to the front of the team meeting room and sharing their personal stories of motivation.
Fairchild’s is embroidered with all those weekends sitting home in Athens while Georgia made glorious road trips in 2021 and ‘22. The Bulldogs didn’t lose a regular-season game either season.
“It was hard my first two years, not traveling with the team,” Fairchild said before a practice earlier this week. “(You’re) just going through a hard time, asking yourself the question every day, ‘Who do you want to be?’ and having to answer.”
Like his nickname, Fairchild has Mims to thank for his breakthrough. Fairchild finally had earned a role in the regular O-line rotation last season backing senior Xavier Truss at left guard. Then Mims went down with a serious ankle injury against South Carolina in the season’s third game. Truss moved out to right tackle to fill in for Mims, and Fairchild was elevated to No. 1 left guard.
But Fairchild didn’t just fill in. He would start 10 of the next 11 games and dominate. He received an 86.8 grade in pass-blocking, which ranked fourth in the nation among Power Five guards, according to Pro Football Focus. He did not give up a sack and allowed only three pressures on 286 pass plays. He similarly was effective in the run game. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller now labels Fairchild the top guard in college football.
It was a hard-earned distinction.
“Toughness, character, what he stands for as a man; I have a lot of respect for Dylan and the way he’s gone about the approach,” Smart said. “He got up in front of the team and told his story. He talked about the years he spent on scout team and how much it means to him to earn what he’s gotten here and how hard he’s had to work for it. Lot of respect for him. His greatest attribute is probably his toughness or his power.”
Having Fairchild and left tackle Earnest Greene III to protect quarterback Carson Beck’s blind side is a major reason the Bulldogs are a consensus pick as preseason No. 1 this season.
“‘Pickle’ is the strongest man on campus. That’s kind of his motto,” said Greene, who also was tabbed a first-team All-American. “He’s really aggressive in the run game, really active, a good technician, everything. To have people like Dylan Fairchild in the lineup, that’s why you come here to Georgia, to compete with and against the best players in the country.”
Pound for pound, there is not a stronger offensive player on Georgia’s roster than Fairchild. The hand-to-hand grappling techniques he learned as the state’s two-time heavyweight wrestling champion at West Forsyth High have translated well to football.
But it was those two years on the scout team, mostly, that truly formed Fairchild into the player he is today. That indoctrination came with the challenge of having to block Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt. All-Americans themselves, they’re all NFL players now.
“It’s tough. You come in as a freshman and you’re going against studs, against NFL players,” Fairchild said. “Those guys are elite. But going through that definitely helps me today. Training as a wrestler, I got beat a lot as a kid. Getting beat is how you get better. You’ve got to lose to win. Going through that was a big step in the process.”
Once buried on the depth chart behind the likes of Justin Shaffer, Warren Ericson, Tate Ratledge and Truss, Fairchild is a fully embedded starter. He still competes daily to keep his job against the likes of Micah Morris, Monroe Freeling and Georgia’s latest crop of elite signees. To date at least, Fairchild been immovable.
At this juncture, nothing short of injury will loosen Fairchild’s grip on being a front-line force for the Bulldogs. His fight against that also is never-ending.
“It’s important to do what you have to do in the training room every day,” Fairchild said. “I take nutrition seriously. I started taking vitamins a while ago; I take a whole plethora of vitamins daily. I think that gives me energy and support on the inside. On the outside, you’ve just got to be tough. You’re gonna hurt. There’s gonna be dings, bumps and bruises. But being able to play through that is the standard here.”
Having “Pickle” in the lineup would seem like big “dill” for the Dogs.
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