Georgia Football: Offensive Line to be tested by Kindley injury

The injury to Solomon Kindley will test the Georgia Football offensive line, in particular its young freshmen.

This is why you need depth. When Solomon Kindley went down with what looked like a serious injury yesterday, Georgia Football fans held their breathes. Kindley has played well since taking the left guard job this season. He and Ben Cleveland have helped make Georgia nasty and tough on the inside of their offensive line. With both of those players now expected to miss extended time, the Dawgs will have to turn to some freshmen just when the games get tough.

Georgia are entering the stretch that will decide their season. Next week they travel to LSU, the match after that they take on a Florida team that just knocked off those Tigers and is currently 5-1. They also still have Auburn on their schedule and a trip to a resurgent Kentucky team coming up. In short, this is not the time you want to be breaking in new offensive linemen.

But the Dawgs have little choice. There is no word yet on Kindley’s injury but it looked bad. They don’t bring the cart out unless they have to in Sanford Stadium. Cleveland should return later this season but he broke his femur. He’ll likely be out for another 4 weeks or so.

And so the mantle falls on Georgia’s highly recruited but very young guards. Cade Mays looked better this week at right guard and the freshmen is certainly a mauler in the run game. He’s also still getting some unnecessary personal foul penalties that are not helping his team. Trey Hill looks like he’s also going to be asked to step in at left guard and play more. He and Jamaree Salyer will now likely battle it out to start this week in Death Valley. What a place to earn your first ever start.

Kirby Smart might want to play it safe and start Kendall Baker who held the LG spot last season. But Baker has looked poor this year when he was seen the field and unless he dramatically improves this week, the Dawgs need better against a very good LSU defense.

Personally, I’d feel most comfortable starting Hill, who has already gained enough experience to hold his own. But a huge amount is being put on a very young offensive line now. Left Tackle Andrew Thomas is just a sophomore, right tackle Isaiah Wilson is a redshirted freshmen. Youth is often considered to be an issue for offensive lines. It’s up to these young Dawgs to prove that will not be the case in Athens. It’s not going to be an easy test, but if any unit has the pedigree to overcome a minor injury crisis, its Sam Pittmans.