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Offensive line may be best we've had in a while...
Posted on 8/31/16 at 9:52 pm
Posted on 8/31/16 at 9:52 pm
Seems like things have been shaky with the OL year in and year out but this year's group has the potential to be really good.
Hard to know until he sees some SEC action but Catalina seemed to take the reigns at LT, which is what Smart hoped. The comments from practice were encouraging...particularly Smart saying that Catalina is very strong and that he can really take people with him.
If he sticks there, it was a great "free agent" acquisition. Lets the talented Wynn move inside and creates a heck of a left side.
Kublanow seems like a steady force in the middle now. And then you've got Sims and Pyke on the right side...providing some power and pretty good mobility with those two big guys. Gaillard is really no drop off from Sims, too...so there's definitely some depth at guard.
I also like how we have a "go big" option for occasional situations. You sub Cleveland in for Wynn and sub Madden or Kindley on the other side and you've got nearly 700 lbs of guard between the two.
I think the offensive line will go a long way to helping the younger parts of the offense progress early on. With Chaney's propensity to use 2-TE sets (and the group we have at that position), this all bodes well for our ability to do a lot of different things.
Hard to know until he sees some SEC action but Catalina seemed to take the reigns at LT, which is what Smart hoped. The comments from practice were encouraging...particularly Smart saying that Catalina is very strong and that he can really take people with him.
If he sticks there, it was a great "free agent" acquisition. Lets the talented Wynn move inside and creates a heck of a left side.
Kublanow seems like a steady force in the middle now. And then you've got Sims and Pyke on the right side...providing some power and pretty good mobility with those two big guys. Gaillard is really no drop off from Sims, too...so there's definitely some depth at guard.
I also like how we have a "go big" option for occasional situations. You sub Cleveland in for Wynn and sub Madden or Kindley on the other side and you've got nearly 700 lbs of guard between the two.
I think the offensive line will go a long way to helping the younger parts of the offense progress early on. With Chaney's propensity to use 2-TE sets (and the group we have at that position), this all bodes well for our ability to do a lot of different things.
3
Posted on 9/1/16 at 6:32 am to Lucius Clay
Not to piss on anyone's cornflakes, but I have a question. It wasn't all that long ago that we had arguably the biggest OL and everyone was praising the size until the season started...and then we shifted to a smaller and everyone thought that was grand. So, is having a humongous OL really that much of difference maker? Or was our OL during that time lacking in talent. My memory is kind of foggy right about now.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 6:41 am to Lucius Clay
Think sims is first off the bench at both guard spots. Galliard beat him out so far.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 6:58 am to Spaceman Spiff
I think this has everything to do with coaching, as to why folks are so excited about the OL.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 7:23 am to Lucius Clay
UGA has had questionable OL play just about the entire time under CMR. It started with recruiting, then developing, and coaching was a head scratcher. I hope like hell the new coaches can do a better job.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 7:29 am to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Not to piss on anyone's cornflakes, but I have a question. It wasn't all that long ago that we had arguably the biggest OL and everyone was praising the size until the season started...and then we shifted to a smaller and everyone thought that was grand. So, is having a humongous OL really that much of difference maker? Or was our OL during that time lacking in talent. My memory is kind of foggy right about now.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but how good the dog actually is at fighting.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 7:39 am to gulfportdawg
I think that Friend started to straighten out OL recruiting when he was here. Yes, it was atrocious under Searles, but Calloway didn't do a horrible job of evaluating talent (landing top level talent was another issue). Wynn, Sims, Kublanow, and Allen were all highly recruited kids who Friend recruited. He also laid the ground work for Cleveland. Add in that we found a underrated guy in Pyke, added a transfer who has a lot of D1 experience in Catalina, and then we successfully converted a DT into a pretty good looking Guard, and we have the ground work for a solid OL unit. We know that 3 guys on that line have the talent because they've done it before; we'll see what Gaillard and Catalina are made of in a couple of days.
Posted on 9/1/16 at 4:18 pm to Spaceman Spiff
There's different kinds of big. We've had some pretty big guys in recent years who were basically slow as molasses.
But some of the current group aren't like that at all. Pyke is like 330 but also had offers for lacrosse scholarships coming out of high school.
Cleveland is never going to be a pro left tackle but he's pretty mobile for someone so massive...give him a year to mature and get even stronger...will be a mauler at guard or right tackle at some point.
Some of the youngsters like Baker, Allen, and Hardin have a lot of upside, too.
I think the current recruiting will mean we start to see some elite tackles coming in...so we don't have to keep hoping to find underrated guys like Pyke or search for JUCOs or transfers like Catalina.
But some of the current group aren't like that at all. Pyke is like 330 but also had offers for lacrosse scholarships coming out of high school.
Cleveland is never going to be a pro left tackle but he's pretty mobile for someone so massive...give him a year to mature and get even stronger...will be a mauler at guard or right tackle at some point.
Some of the youngsters like Baker, Allen, and Hardin have a lot of upside, too.
I think the current recruiting will mean we start to see some elite tackles coming in...so we don't have to keep hoping to find underrated guys like Pyke or search for JUCOs or transfers like Catalina.
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