Georgia Football: Offensive Tackles to watch this spring

D’Marcus Hayes Redshirted Junior

Hayes was a JUCO transfer in the 2017 class. He enrolled early and if I’m being honest, he is someone I thought would find a way onto the field back in the spring. He has the size (6ft5, 315lbs) that Sam Pittman loves from his tackles and I really thought he would end up challenging and maybe even beat out Isaiah Wynn last year.

Well, I was wrong about that one. Hayes struggled to adapt to the rigours of an SEC program and never made it onto the 2-deep for the season. He ended up redshirting his first year at UGA and so consequently, has two years of eligibility left in Athens.

In defense of Hayes, he was making a huge jump. JUCO college cannot really prepare you for the SEC. It’s just such a big gap in terms of overall competition and the speed and power of your rivals do take some getting used to.

Based off what little tape I have seen of Hayes, he looks more like a left tackle to me than an RT. He does have quick feet and he’s pretty mobile. He’s someone that I think could handle some of the more athletic pass rushers.

Because of his age and experience, I expect Hayes to be given a shot to win the right tackle job. That being said, I think the talent of the next two prospects probably means he ends up missing out. But I do expect a great deal of improvement and at worse, I think he’ll be the backup left tackle for 2018.