Georgia football’s offensive line has gotten heralded as one of the best lines in the nation, but do they always play up to that billing? Let’s break things down and see.
Georgia football has one of the most talented offensive lines in the nation.
According to 247Sports’ composite, Isaiah Wilson was a five-star recruit, Jamaree Salyer was a five-star recruit, Andrew Thomas was a four-star recruit, Trey Hill was a four-star recruit, Ben Cleveland was a four-star recruit, and Solomon Kindley was a three-star recruit.
Not only are they loaded in talent, but they also have one of the biggest offensive lines ever put together.
They are even bigger than the average NFL offensive linemen, as tweeted by SEC Network:
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1169641316961177602?s=20
However, does that size equate to an elite offensive line? Let’s take a look at where Georgia’s line rates on Football Outsiders Offensive Line Stats:
Run-Blocking Stats
- Line Yards per Carry: 3.3, No. 1
- Standard Downs Line Yards per Carry: 3.27, No. 1
- Passing Downs Line Yards per Carry: 3.39, No. 13
- Opportunity Rate: 60%, No. 2
- Power Success Rate: 58.3, No. 110
- Stuff Rate: 11.8%, No. 4
Pass-Blocking Stats
- Sack Rate: 2.3%, No. 5
- Standard Downs Sack Rate: 1.7%, No. 12
- Passing Downs Sack Rate: 3.5%, No. 12
The offensive line excels in most categories, especially when it comes to run blocking.
In fact, they are No. 1 in the nation when it comes to how many yards they help their running backs get per carry.
They also do not allow their running backs to be stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage very often, only allowing this to happen 11.8 percent of the time.
As you can see with the Power Success Rate stat though, Georgia’s offensive line has a meager conversion rate on third and fourth down, with two yards or less to go.
Showing that the line struggles to blast their guys off the line of scrimmage when they really need to.
Kirby Smart had this to say about the offensive line after the South Carolina game, according to 247Sports.
"“Everybody likes to talk about our offensive line being a dominating offensive line,” coach Kirby Smart said. “I’d love to talk about that. But they’ve got to do it.”"
Smart is right, there is a lot of talk about how great Georgia’s offensive line is, but there is still work to be done if they want to be the best in the nation.
They excel at run blocking, but could really improve when it comes to their short-yardage blocking.
Georgia’s offensive line lacks the nastiness to go man on man and run their guy off the line of scrimmage.
They could also improve on their sack rate as it is outside the top ten.
Shouldn’t be that hard to pull that stat up a bit as Jake Fromm has one of the quickest releases in college football.
Overall I would say that Georgia’s offensive line does have some things to work on, but it is elite in certain areas, just not overall.
Sam Pittman is a great coach, though, and will get them where we all know they can go. This group will soon be the best in college football; they just need to get a mean streak when it counts.