Georgia Football: What’s the secret sauce for 2018 success?

Georgia football enters the 2018 season carrying a preseason AP ranking of third, and high fan expectations. One position group holds the key to success.

Sept. 1 will come with much fan fare in Athens, Ga., and for Dawg Nation. After the thrill of an unexpectedly successful Georgia football season in 2017, culminating in an overtime national title heartbreak, folks in red and black are white-knuckling message boards and scouring the internet for information in anticipation.

Success is anticipated, because of the talented roster and depth at most position groups. There is one group, however, that will be the thing that drives the thing, and they’re not getting much “pub” at all: the offensive line.

It’s natural that certain positions get all of the media love and attention. If you have an awful quarterback, you’ll have an awful team. The converse is usually true, as well. A loaded running back, linebacker or defensive line room will usually indicate that a team will be tough to deal with. The Georgia football team has all of that. But, the offensive line group looks to be on the verge of something special, and, it seems, not many people have noticed.

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Offensive line coach Sam Pittman has amassed a line that is both large in number and large in size. In 2016, the first year of the Smart regime, the line play was a certified and demonstrable weakness. Pitiful would be the word my grandfather would use.

In 2017, however, the offensive line improved to the point that folks in the national media began pointing it out as a strength by the end of the year. Previously unregarded left tackle, Isaiah Wynn, wound up being a first-round NFL Draft pick. Nobody saw that coming, except for maybe his mom.

That said, as much as the play of the offensive line improved from 2016 to 2017, the latter squad was still undersized, relatively speaking. In fact, they ranked towards the bottom of the SEC in average size.

Fast forward to 2018, and not only should the line continue positive development, under the tutelage of Pittman, but the outright size of the line has become monstrous. Biblically monstrous. Old Testament monstrous. Philistine monstrous.

The presumed starting five on day one, from left to right, is Andrew Thomas (6-5, 320 pounds), Kendall Baker (6-6, 310), Lamont Gaillard (6-2, 305), Ben Cleveland (6-6, 330), and Isaiah Wilson (6-7, 340). And those are the numbers listed for them. Don’t believe it. They’re bigger than that. Big enough that Georgia will have one of the largest offensive lines in the conference this year.

But size is not all that matters, or so some say. In this case, it’s true. An unknown fact is that the last two seasons (2016-17) saw Georgia redshirt a five-star freshman offensive lineman (Ben Cleveland and Isaiah Wilson). It’s quite possible they do it again in 2018.

The point here is that the Line, after showing drastic improvement in year two under Pittman, now has the girth and five-star depth to go with it. And, while not flashy, it points to being the fulcrum for a successful season.

If Georgia accomplishes goals and lights up the SEC East, as it did last year, it will definitely be attributed to the star power and performance of the likes of Jake Fromm, Justin Fields, D’Andre Swift, Elijah Holyfield,  D’Andre Walker, Deandre Baker, Tyler Clark, Mecole Hardman and Terry Godwin.

But the “big uglies” up front, the sun-shaders, the “Goliaths on the goal post”, the “road-graders”, they will be the ones that will be the driving force for success.

Oh, and by the way, Georgia already has two more committed in the 2019 class.