Fall camp storylines - offensive line
So, when has the offensive line not been a storyline for Georgia heading into fall camp?
Can’t remember, huh? Yes, it does seem to have been a while.
That’s certainly going to be the case this fall as position coach Sam Pittman goes about the business of re-shaping the position, one which has been a main focus of attention from the first day Kirby Smart took over as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
You’ll remember Smart’s opening press conference spiel back in December. The Bulldogs needed to get bigger and stronger on the offensive line with bigger bodies, something more in line to what he was used to seeing while coaching nine years at Alabama.
At the time, Smart painted a somewhat bleak picture regarding what the Bulldogs had coming back on the offensive line. But now, after going through the spring, and the fact Georgia has added a few extra pieces, well, maybe it’s not quite as bad as he first thought.
“I actually feel better now than I felt going in the spring. I think that's because I just know more. I don't think you're ever comfortable. If you ask any coach in the SEC if he's comfortable with his offensive line, nobody has enough tackles. There's just not enough of them. You want a 6'5", 6'6" guy, they're hard to find,” Smart said. “But I feel much better now going into fall camp having watched what we had in spring and watching those guys improve under Coach Pittman's tutelage.”
The biggest question for Georgia right now is who will play left and right tackle this fall.
Smart and Pittman both hope that graduate transfer Tyler Catalina will fill the void at left tackle.
At 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds, Catalina certainly looks the part.
“He’s working extremely hard,” center Brandon Kublanow said. “He’s definitely strong. I’m looking forward to seeing him out on the field.
If Catalina can prove he’s got what it takes to play left tackle, that will allow junior Isaiah Wynn to slide back to his normal position at left guard, which would presumably make right guard a battle between Dyshon Sims and Lamont Gaillard with Greg Pyke – assuming he recovers from last week’s appendectomy – as the starter at right tackle.
However, if Catalina struggles, then you might see Wynn slide back to left tackle where he started the latter half of 2015.
Smart has his fingers crossed.
“With Tyler Catalina coming in as a transfer, we hope to give us some competition there for a starting job,” he said. “I think the toughest job is staying injury free and trying to find eight guys, nine guys to rotate in there.”
That shouldn’t be a problem.
Freshman Ben Cleveland has made some nice strides at guard and is expected to make his share of contributions, while Kendall Baker actually worked with the first unit at left tackle before getting bumped down to the second unit midway through the spring.
Redshirts freshman Sam Madden and Pat Allen both ran with the second unit in the spring and figure to be next in line for reps, with holdovers Sage Hardin, Mirko Jurkovic (who is coming off a shattered kneecap) and Aulden Bynum – who is also expected to help as a blocking tight end – hoping to ultimately make some sort of a surge.
As far as the remaining freshmen – Chris Barnes and Solomon Kindley – they will get early looks but the guess here is both are in for a redshirt year.