Georgia Football: Future of offensive line is beyond bright
Georgia Football got a big win against Kentucky and the main reason for that was a dominant offensive line that is one of the youngest in the country.
What a difference a few years makes. Anybody else remembers 2016? Back when the Georgia Football team was playing the likes of Tyler Catalina on the offensive line who for all of his size was getting beaten by speed rushers left and right. In Kirby Smart’s first season, his offensive line was a senior-laden trainwreck. Against Kentucky, it was an underclassman loaded juggernaut.
Credit to Sam Pittman for building something special. For most of this game, the starting offensive line for Georgia was Andrew Thomas, Solomon Kindley, Trey Hill, Cade Mays, and Isaiah Wilson. That’s two sophomores and three freshmen holding down the starting spots and beating down what was until this game one of the best defenses in the country.
In a lot of ways, this is just the beginning for this offensive line group. Ben Cleveland has shown since last year that he’s one of the best guards in the country. A sophomore himself Cleveland is going to be back in this lineup before the end of the year. Then there are all of the freshmen and sophomores that are chomping at the bit trying to earn playing time. The likes of Jamaree Salyer will eventually force their way into this unit and when they do, it should get even better.
Trey Hill’s performance in this game was inspiring. A true freshman who played guard in high school, Hill played almost the entire game at center because of an injury to Lamont Gaillard. Center is quite possibly the most difficult position on the line to learn because of the snap. Hill made one mistake on that during the game, but other than that, he was solid. He was also making calls and adjustments on protections at times. That’s just not something you expect to see from a guy that young and yet he did it with confidence against a veteran-loaded defensive front. I just can’t say enough how impressive that was.
Next. 5 other takeaways from the Kentucky game. dark
Gaillard and Cleveland should eventually be back and will likely claim their jobs back. However next season, even with Gaillard gone, we could see one of the best offensive lines in Georgia history in 2019. This group is as talented and deep and any unit in the entire country and the young players are starting to come into their own. That’s a reason to feel very good about this team for the foreseeable future.