Spring is known as the season of change. That has never been more true for Georgia's offensive line.
For one, the Bulldogs are replacing four starters from last year's team, including longtime anchors Tate Ratledge and Xavier Truss. But Georgia is also looking to take a step forward after a year that fell short of the lofty offensive line standard set in Athens.
"Everybody's really just back to square one honestly, it’s day one of spring ball," offensive lineman Earnest Greene said Tuesday. "So getting back to the basics, and just executing everything you possibly can, and getting as good as you possibly can, whether that's on the field, off the field, how to prepare, how to treat yourself like a professional, all types of different things."
Greene said he believes it doesn't do anyone any good to dwell on last year. Still, it's hard not to look at last year's numbers and feel that there is major room for improvement.
The Bulldogs rushed for an average of 124.4 yards per game in 2024. That ranked 102nd in the country, sandwiched between Georgia Southern and Cal. The 4.06 yards per carry average placed Georgia in a tie for 84th. The offensive line also allowed 25 sacks in 14 games, including four in the Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame.
Some of those issues stemmed from injury, but poor play is to blame as well. The Bulldogs hope to use this spring to become more of a cohesive unit up front.
"As a position group where there's so much camaraderie that goes into the position, all five guys have to move together as one, and if one person's off, if one's wrong, then all five's wrong," Greene said. "And if one's wrong out of the five, then the whole 11 of the offense is a negative play. We really just take pride in coming together as one. And it's just the camaraderie it takes to be able to, I mean, leadership doesn't have to be from one person. The leadership can be from multiple people. People can lead by example, people can lead verbally. So really, everybody's just having that respect for each other, to know that if somebody's getting on you, that nothing's personal, everybody loves each other, and we all just want to do better and want the best for each other.”
Leadership will be at even more of a premium this spring.
The quartet of Ratledge, Truss, Dylan Fairchild, and Jared Wilson made up four of Georgia's five regular starters last season. Another returner, Monroe Freeling, is out for the spring after shoulder surgery.
"We've kind of had this coming for a while, so it's been an anticipation of how we can create depth in our signing classes," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. "We've got a lot of young offensive linemen in our signing classes who haven't played who need to grow up and play. To be honest with you, it's a problem across the NFL, where they don't have enough offensive linemen. I don't know anbody in the country right now in college football is saying, 'We've got enough linemen. We're good.' There's not enough quality offensive linemen out there, and you're trying to build quality depth across the board at the position."
Some experience returns, with Micah Morris and Drew Bobo joining Freeling and Greene as players who have seen a decent amount of game action.
Outside of that, however, the offensive line room is talented but inexperienced. The next few weeks of spring practice will be used to sort out a group that is currently as big of a question mark as any on Georgia's roster.
"This group that's about to take the field or get their opportunity, a lot of them have been on that scout team for two years," Smart said. "They're not where they need to be, but we're going to push them and do the best combination to get 8-10 guys that can play winning football for us, which is our goal every year.”
