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Georgia football offensive line needs to âGrow up and playâ per Kirby Smart
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Georgia football offensive line needs to âGrow up and playâ per Kirby Smart
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Maybe losing 4 starters from last year isn't such a bad thing, since based on last year's performance they might have been over-hyped in the first place. Sometimes a fresh start begets a fresh mindset and identity… so maybe the new crew will have a nastier attitude and get back to the mauler basics. Go Dawgs!
@khummel…Ohio State had to revamp their entire O-line mid-season last year - including a couple of completely untested guys - and did a fantastic job…obviously. So, yes, it's certainly possible but experience at any position trumps having to grow up fast with little to no experience. Luckily, a few of these guys do have some experience, so I think we might be ok. We've got a couple of cupcakes early on in Marshall and Austin Peay before hitting the schedule hard. Searals should have ample time to find the best combination of guys to put our best group out there. But, just like last year, injuries could de-rail any laid plans quickly.
For all of the hype around Wilson he was a big step down from SVPG. But then most people would be. I wonder about Bobo. C is the weakest link of the '25 OL. UGA has 2 high ceiling freshmen OC's coming in. Too much to expect them to start year 1. CSmith started 4 years at Parkview (7A) at OC. That is impressive.
DFairchild never impressed. He was definitely overrated. He probably should have been shifted to OC. Thought MMorris would displace him with his size but he never made the jump in his play. UGA will need a young OG to step up in '25.
Truss improved each year but was always limited. OG may have been his best position. Not having another player to play RT so Truss could play LG may have set this OL back. Truss is a reminder of what UGA lost with the passing of Devon Willock. Willock was the better of the 2 players and may have developed into UGA's best OL in '24. Losing him was tragic and a setback to the program.
One player to keep an eye on has not been mentioned in any Dawgnation articles. Recruiting stories about Marcus Harrison's HS exploits and proclivities are very Devon Willock-esque. UGA seems very deep with prospects at OT. Makes me wonder if we will see JGreene finally make that switch to OG in '25.
The championship OL standard was built on higher ranked OL recruits during the Sam Pittman's recruiting heyday.
"Even though just about everyone inside and outside recognizes the Georgia offensive line didn’t play up to standard a season ago"... what? Not even a complete thought, much less sentence.
And, after reading CKS's ACTUAL complete comment, the title for this article seems clickbait (guess it worked 🫤)... out-of-context and provocative.
While MG continues to get better and better, I'm starting to understand why CR (who is usually insightful, IMHO) frequently does not turn on comments anymore.
I know this may seem unreasonable to some folks. However, I would hope that it's a rational expectation from a diehard Dawgs fan that "professional journalists" maintain at least basic editing/proofing standards and don't use out-of-context quoting (esp. of our own team!) to spin things inappropriately just for clicks.
Rant over, I promise! 🤣🤣🤣
Were the players on the OLine the primary problem Or the techniques they were being trained ? We can make comparisons of previous O Lines and yeah be able to find much better. But even doing that the question would prevail were the players That much better Or the techniques they were trained to follow ?
My point is this Woe be to a player who deliberately disregards the Coach once, and welcome to riding the pine for the player that does that twice or more ( more than apt). So they are encapsulated within the technique their coach teaches them to a large degree.
If a player who had all the right physical attributes and was coached well in HS comes out a 4 or 5 star by most recruiting agencies. Can such a player be deprogrammed from using good techniques to poor techniques and thus diminish their success level ??
I despise being a pessimist I really, really do. But until I See significant improvement from the O Line I don’t trust Searls. I would Joyfulky eat crow if they do improve Significantly. And if that happens ( give me to about midway of the season) I will Gladly come back on here and both Credit and Apologize to Coach Searls.
As much as I hate giving Saban any credit one of his well worn adages was “ You play with the players you have”. Well he did that, and they won, Allot. Yes I Know many times he had Allot of high caliber players to work with. But they had injuries to. And they lost some recruiting battles to none other than UGA as well.
I’m fed up with injuries or didn’t have enough quality players etc. as excuses. A person commented on here the other day that very much implied that coaching was of little impact. Well if that’s true why hire them ?? Even more so why pay them the elaborate salaries they make ??
What I desperately want to see is players in ALL units in particular the O Line and Receivers Coached UP !! If a kid came in as a moderate 3 star I want to see him coached up to a 5 star level within two years at Most. If he came in as a 5 star I want to see him very close to being a decent NFL draft pick within the same.
I think about Ladd McConkey. Yes, Yes I know he had tons of athletic upside and tons more of pure ole want to. But he was a QB in HS not even a receiver !! And he was a 3 star !! Look what he accomplished !!
SO either UGA is missing Terribly in their talent evaluations in SOME areas of recruiting OR the Coaching in those Same Areas is sub par. Or maybe even both !! Excuses are for those watching the National Title game on TV but not Playing in it !!
The bottom line is the O Line play last year was horrendous. And the Dawgs led CFB in dropped passes. Kirby cannot continue to build a dynasty with those Two very shaky pillars, less alone other factors in the program, injuries, TP, wrong talent evaluations on other players in other units etc. See Part 2
Part 2 Just think if the O Line would have gave Carson Beck a smidgen more pass protection time And receivers would have Caught just half of the balls they dropped ??
And again if the O Line would have much more often opened gaping holes for our RBs ?? In one game you’d get pretty decent pass pro, Not fabulous but pretty decent but with little holes for RBs. The next you’d get lousy pass pro and pretty decent run blocking. Why ??
I don’t think Arch Manning would have performed much better if at All playing behind the O Line Gunner had vs ND !! They were letting him be eat alive !! And to compliment that the receivers would promptly drop passes that were right on them. NO I’m not saying all of Gunner’s passes were great, I’m saying that passes were dropped that he put right on the receivers. And with the O Line playing So poorly he had very little time to scan the field for somebody getting open.
When I look at Dawgs recruiting we don’t get every single Top of the position or even second best every time. But on paper the Dawgs rank in the top five for the last bunch of years. Number One for some of them. And after Defense KS seems to put allot of interest into the O Line. So I can’t understand why having a dominant O Line is such a rare commodity ?? The injury thing only goes so far.
SO I’m expecting if I had a right to which I Don’t I’d be demanding Excellence from Coaches just as They demand from the players. Leaders should lead by example. If the Unit fails the Coach should be the First to own the blame !! Then Fix it, don’t make idle promises, Do It. Not in the world of CFB but I’ve been many times in a world where excuses don’t cut it, just as I’m sure Most of you if not All have. Go Dawgs !! Thanks for letting me vent !! 😀
It’s coaching.
When Searels was hired I went on some of the UNC fan sites and the general view was "Why in the world would a team like Georgia hire this guy"?
I can’t grasp why either. His O Line failures are a Huge part of the losses last year. That and receivers can’t catch the ball. There was no consistency at pass protection or run blocking, in the majority of the games you got one or the other, sometimes neither !! All we can do is Hope he will coach the players up to a much higher standard this year. Not gonna hold my breath though.
I fear that the 2025 UGA football team will be lucky to have a winning record.
I'm sure Mr. Luke would love to move back to Athens instead of residing in that "so called" town of Clemson, SC. Somebody get his number!!!!
I'm not blown away by Searels so far, myself, but have to put the onus of poor play on the players. Especially at the line of scrimmage, your primary job is to whip the guy in front of you. Too often last year, we simply didn't. I've had bad coaches (and managers) in the past, and like to think I performed well in spite of them. Go Dawgs!