Georgia's Offensive Line Revolution
Kirby Smart’s brand is built on hard-nosed defense. The historic performances of his units at Alabama are what eventually led to him taking over as the head coach at Georgia. Since arriving in Athens, Smart’s defenses have quickly become the standard of excellence in college football, but it’s a unit on the offensive side of the ball that is arguably deserving of the most credit for Georgia’s success over the past few years: the offensive line.
Georgia’s offensive line room, under three different offensive line coaches, has turned into one of the top units, not just on Georgia, but in the country. This past season, Georgia gave up just 9 sacks over 15 games - or .6 per game - less than a third of the rate they gave up in Smart’s first season (2016).
Georgia has won games in a variety of ways over the years, but two things have remained consistent: elite recruiting and excellent coaching.
Recruiting wise, Georgia has been as good as anyone in college football at landing elite-level talent on the offensive line. In 2015, the year prior to Smart taking over, Georgia’s highest-rated offensive line commit was Pat Allen, the 17th tackle and 206th rated recruit per 247. In 2016, Smart landed Ben Cleveland, the 10th best tackle in the class, and Solomon Kindley, an unranked three-star recruit. Both are currently starting in the NFL. 2017 is where things really picked up. Georgia landed Isaiah Wilson, the No. 5 tackles in America, and added to it by landing Andrew Thomas, the No . 9 tackle. Both were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Georgia under Kirby Smart:
- Year - Sacks allowed - Rush yards per game
- 2022 - 9 sacks | 205.3 RYPG
- 2021 - 16 sacks | 190. 9 RYPG
- 2020 - 20 sacks | 174.2 RYPG
- 2019 - 15 sacks | 185.1 RYPG
- 2018 - 20 sacks | 238.8 RYPG
- 2017 - 22 sacks | 258.8 RYPG
- 2016 - 24 sacks | 191.2 RYPG
That’s how it's gone; Georgia lands massive - both figuratively and literally - recruits on the line and helps mold them into NFL-level lineman. How did they land those guys? Coaches.
Smart’s biggest initial hire was stealing Sam Pittman from Arkansas in a lateral move from Pittman. The veteran coach was famous for recruiting massive offensive lineman and converting them into bulldozing units. After three years, Pittman returned to Arkansas, this time as the head coach. Smart replaced Pittman with another veteran offensive line coach, Matt Luke. Luke was the coach responsible for taking Georgia from a zone blocking, smash-mouth line, to an athletic group that could play in the space new offensive coordinator Todd Monken was installing. Obviously it worked out, as Matt Luke helped guide Georgia to its first national championship since 1980. Following that season, Luke decided to step away from football. Georgia replaced him with yet another veteran of the SEC, Stacy Searels. Searels’ line in 2022 was maybe Georgia’s best ever, allowing just the 9 sacks, and allowing quarterback Stetson Bennett all the time he needed to become the first ever Georgia quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards.
Georgia will once again have another offensive lineman taken in the first round of the Draft, as tackle Broderick Jones is projected to be a top pick. Tackles Warren McClendon and center Sedrick Van Pran have yet to declare, but both would be likely taken in the first three rounds. In total, Georgia has had 9 offensive lineman selected in the Draft since 2018. That’s a staggering number. For reference, Georgia had 11 offensive lineman selected from 2000 - 2017.
As we all try to find reasoning behind Georgia’s success, and as other teams try to emulate what Georgia has built, remember the simple truth: football is won at the line of scrimmage.
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