Georgia football: 30 greatest players of the Mark Richt era

• First-Team All-SEC (2011)
• 50 starts along the offensive line
• 28 starts at left guard

It wasn’t just Ben Jones that came to Athens as part of the 2008 recruiting class for the Dawgs along the offensive line. He is edged out by guard Cordy Glenn at No. 18 in the pecking order of former great players under Mark Richt.

Glenn was a four-star recruit out of Riverdale High School in Riverdale, Georgia. Like Jones, Glenn would make an impact almost immediately along the Georgia offensive line. He made 10 starts in the 13 games he appeared in as a true freshman in 2008. He, Jones and guard Clint Boling made for quite the offensive interior for the next three years at UGA.

While Jones was a mainstay at center and Jones at guard, Glenn would be moved all along the Georgia offensive line during his four years in Athens. Though he made 50 career starts for the Dawgs in four seasons, he made the most at left guard with 28.

That means he made 22 other starts elsewhere in Mark Richt’s offense. 18 of them came at left tackle, while the other four came at right guard. Glenn’s ability to more than hold his own at multiple offensive line positions certainly made him even more valuable as a pro prospect.

In his final year with the Dawgs in 2011, Glenn would be named First-Team All-SEC at guard. Georgia won the SEC East the only time during his time with the program. However, Georgia couldn’t get it together against the LSU Tigers in the conference title bout. Georgia went 10-4 in Glenn’s last season with the team.

Of the many great offensive linemen that played under Richt at Georgia, Glenn was one of the highest selected in an NFL Draft. He went to the Buffalo Bills in the second round. Though his tape was remarkable while at Georgia, switching positions constantly while at Georgia might have been what kept him from being a first-round pick. Then again, guards are rarely first-round picks anyway.

Like many former Bulldogs of the Richt era, his football legacy would grow once he reached the NFL. Glenn played his first six NFL seasons for the Bills, guiding an elite run blocking offensive line with players like Eric Wood and Richie Incognito. Buffalo made the AFC playoffs for the first time since 1999 during Glenn’s last year with the team.

He was so valuable as a blind side protector at left tackle that the Cincinnati Bengals traded for him, which gave the ammunition the Bills needed to eventually move up to No. 7 to draft their next franchise quarterback in Josh Allen out of Wyoming. Simply put, everywhere Glenn has been, he has been an underrated, but productive player. He was great at Georgia, excellent in Buffalo and should do great things in Cincinnati. It’s cool that he has been reunited with Boling on the Bengals.