Georgia Football Position Battle - Offensive Tackle
Two first-round tackles being selected from the same college program hasn't happened since 1991 when Tennessee's Antone Davis and Charles McRae were selected with back to back picks.
Georgia's Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson also became the highest-drafted duo of Georgia offensive linemen ever, breaking the record previously held by George Foster and Jon Stinchcomb in 2003.
Now, Georgia's left with major question marks at both the right and left tackle position for the first time in three seasons. Though, there's some extreme talent lying in the wait. We will start with the right tackle position because it is our belief that's the known portion of this conversation.
Right Tackle - Jamaree Salyer
Jamaree Salyer entered college at 342 pounds, and sources tell Dawgs Daily that during his senior season at Pace Academy in Atlanta, he was up into the 360-pound range. Now, he's weighing in at 309 and has completely reshaped his body in preparation to handle the edge rushers he will face this fall.
And though Salyer is athletically gifted enough to do just about anything along the offensive line, and though he's cross-trained at both right and left tackle last season, it is our belief that he will be playing right tackle this fall. Also, we've noticed that majority of his off-season workouts with former Georgia Bulldog, Andrew Thomas, he's taking most of the reps with a right tackle stance.
Moving from right tackle to left tackle may not seem like much to the average fan, but as 11-year NFL veteran Josh Sitton said "Moving sides of the offensive line is like wiping your butt with your other hand." Bottom line (pun very much intended), it's not easy.
As for who will back Salyer up, it's going to be a combination of whoever loses the forthcoming battle at Left Tackle along with Owen Condon and Tate Ratledge.
Left Tackle - Xavier Truss... for now
There was nothing but great things being said out of Athens about Xavier Truss during practice last season as he took a redshirt. And the game tape from a year ago in the limited action he did see was downright dominant. The only problem? That was Sam Pittman's offensive line. That was Sam Pittman's running scheme. And that was Sam Pittman's modus operandum — size and strength over all else.
However, now it's Matt Luke's show on the offensive line. Which means that athleticism takes precedence overall. The reason being, he's not going to ask guys to run inside zone and physically dominate the line of scrimmage play after play in the SEC. There's going to be counter schemes and trap schemes built into the playbook. In fact, sources have confirmed that counter was one of the first plays installed this spring. So, you're going to need to be able to move and move fluidly.
That's not to say Truss can't do those things, it's to say that Broderick Jones CAN do all of those things and do them exceptionally well. Look, starting at left tackle in the SEC as a true freshman is incredibly rare but this is a rare type of talent. He's got plenty of work to do to clean up with his technique and even some weight to add, but he's got until September to do exactly that.
Sources close to the program have indicated that Jones has a legitimate chance to start the season at left tackle and stay there for the remainder of his career.
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