Offensive line: Starting a summer series of synopses up front
I’m on vacation, so the UGA blog is on quasi-hiatus. But rather than shutting down entirely, I thought we could use this lull for a leisurely look at the 2010 football team. I put together synopses of the various position groups, and one will post each weekday. Then the floor will be yours — at least those of you not on a beach somewhere. I hope everyone has a great summer. Just 82 days, by the way, until the season opener between the hedges.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE
- Returning starters: LT Clint Boling, LG Cordy Glenn, C Ben Jones, RG Chris Davis and RT Josh Davis.
- Others to watch: Trinton Sturdivant and Tanner Strickland are due back from knee and shoulder injuries, respectively, and redshirt freshman Chris Burnette could make his presence felt.
- Key losses: All of the players who started at the end of last season are back, but one player with starting experience graduated (Vince Vance) and another shifted to the defensive line (Justin Anderson).
- Key fact: Georgia’s roster boasts players who have started an impressive total of 155 collegiate games on the O-line –- 38 by C. Davis, 36 by Boling, 23 by Glenn, 23 by Jones, 14 by Sturdivant, 12 by Anderson and 9 by J. Davis.
- Key fact II: Georgia had double the rushing yardage per game in the final seven games last season as in the first six –- improvement that coincided with a reconfiguring of the line when J. Davis took over at RT.
- Key question: Will Sturdivant, who has missed almost all of the past two seasons with knee injuries, be able to pick up where he left off as a freshman and reclaim his spot on the starting unit? (The latest from Mark Richt is that Sturdivant’s rehab has gone extremely well, that he should be ready for preseason practice and that there’s every reason to expect the best for him and from him.)
- Recent developments: Boling had arthroscopic surgery to “clean up” an ankle but is expected to resume full workouts soon. Glenn was a dominating player in spring practice, which culminated with him being named Offensive MVP.
- Outlook: Excellent. If the unit stays relatively healthy for the first time in three years, it should be the strength of the team. And it needs to be.
- Your turn: What say you about the offensive line?
Tomorrow: wide receivers.
Click here for Georgia’s latest football depth chart.
And please follow @ajcuga on Twitter for the latest on the Bulldogs all summer.
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158 comments Add your comment
italian_29
June 14th, 2010
11:39 am
Harold that weak OL ran all over your BUGS last year, we know you are a BUG fan, go back to the GIT blogs and quit playing with your pocket protector. 30-24 because you know it still hurts you!
dawgfan
June 14th, 2010
11:52 am
I’ve heard hype about our O-line before and then a couple of guys go down and we’re screwed. I’ll believe it when I see it. A couple of key injuries and all that preseason mag hype won’t be worth more than toilet paper.
Pesonally, I think spotty O-line play has held back Richt’s offenses from being truly great instead of just good. I’d like to see a little more emphasis there in recruiting. Its great that we sign guys that run 4.2 forties but they aren’t that fast lying flat on their ass. Somebody needs to black for them.
Thanks.
AltamahaDawg
June 14th, 2010
11:54 am
ga gator, “with very rare exceptions” is not the same as “always”. That’s why I made the specific caveat. I still think if you look at that series throughout the decades, the occurance that an upset occured is equal to, or less than, any home and home series in the conference. Even a look at the games in the 70 and 80, keeping in mind the oft-turmoiled state of the gator program in general, most (most) outcomes were predictable on paper. That was my point: that moving the game changes nothing.
But even conceeding to your comment, all the more reason for UGA to play in J’Ville, because if so, the history of the underdog prevailing would be slanted our way.
TheWad
June 14th, 2010
11:56 am
Now you are a nationwide expert on the perception of Ga football? Ga football is considered one of the most underachieving programs in the nation? Whta the hell was Al for the 10+ years before Saban came along?
441 North
June 14th, 2010
12:03 pm
If we get by Carolina in Columbia, we could easily be 8-0 going into Jacksonville.
AltamahaDawg
June 14th, 2010
12:10 pm
It’s a shame that in the door to door national research that many of our devoted trolls seem to have conducted, they didn’t just include the question: How many people in your household? That could have saved the govenment a lot of money.
San Francisco Dawg
June 14th, 2010
12:15 pm
The true beneficiary of having a great offensive line will be Murray..I predict a lot of play action calls, tight end screens and balls thrown into the flats…this will force defensive coaches to play close to the line and then…AJ Green touchdowns!!
MaconKnight
June 14th, 2010
12:19 pm
Let’s just wait and see this year… we all know how things turned out last year when all of you media types pumped the O-LINEMEN head’s up… NEXT TOPIC!!!!!!!!
Lunchtime links: Vols’ ticket sales down | SportsTalk South
June 14th, 2010
12:22 pm
[...] Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a closer look at Georgia’s offensive line entering the 2010 [...]
jason
June 14th, 2010
12:24 pm
The OL has been good to great the past few years. Injuries have depleted the depth and forced youngsters to have to play early. it will remain the same this season. If the starting 5 stay healthy UGA will dominate in the run game and play action. If not, the offense will struggle as it has the past 2 seasons until Searles finds the right combination. Funny thing, we have about 8 or so OL who have been playing together 2 years or more, there should be no issues finding the right combination if injuries do occur.
Lunchtime links: Vols’ ticket sales down | Hog Country Online
June 14th, 2010
12:27 pm
[...] Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a closer look at Georgia’s offensive line entering the 2010 [...]
Get Tough and Stop the Excuses
June 14th, 2010
1:11 pm
“The physical aspect of the work includes strength training, cardiovascular endurance, speed training, flexibility and agility improvement, and nutritional consultation. These things not only help the athlete perform at a higher level, but also aid in preventing injuries, and will allow the athletes to remain on the competitive field of play.” ……. Ok This is part of UGA’s mission statement concerning strength and conditioning. The preventing injuries really jumps out. CMR… its time to produce and halt the slide which also includes the barrage of excuses of these last few years. Its time to stop getting blown away by both Florida and Tennessee. Its also time to quit hanging on for dear life against the Vandy’s, Kentucky’s UAB’’s and S. Carolina’s of college football.
Bulldog59
June 14th, 2010
1:27 pm
Tide Roll has been doing a cut/paste of the same comment concerning Georgia’s OL, over and over and over, pasting in every blog he can find for at least the last several weeks.
Amazing how simple it is, not sure why CMR and Coach Searels don’t take his advice on personnel decisions.
My advice, when you see a comment from Tide Roll that begins “The Starters should be…” scroll down quickly.
SavannahDawg
June 14th, 2010
1:29 pm
Got to remember the tight ends on our blocking schemes too!!
droopydawg
June 14th, 2010
1:33 pm
Frank Lane (first comment) is absolutely right. A great OL can make mediocre skill position players and a mediocre QB look good. Since we have (much) better than mediocre players, a great line should lead to us having a good offense, even if it takes a while for Murray to get a feel for playing in the SEC.
This season is starting to look good as long as we take to the 3-4 defense relatively well in the first year.
droopydawg
June 14th, 2010
1:34 pm
Good point SavannahDawg: we have great TEs too.
Urban Meyer
June 14th, 2010
1:36 pm
What’s there to say, this is the deepest, most talented and possibly most dominate offensive line in the country. Oh sorry, that was one of last years comments.
Lunchtime links: Vols’ ticket sales down | theSPORTSpage Arkansas
June 14th, 2010
1:44 pm
[...] Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution takes a closer look at Georgia’s offensive line entering the 2010 [...]
Urban Meyer
June 14th, 2010
1:49 pm
What’s there to say, this is the deepest, most talented and possibly most dominate offensive lines in the country. Oh sorry, that was one of last years comments.
maddawg
June 14th, 2010
1:49 pm
I am very optimistic about the o-line for this year but I can’t help but think that this was supposed to be a strength the last 2 years and was actually a weakness. we did get it together the last 3 or 4 games last year. That being said, with the returning talent and the stock pile at TE if the defense comes together (we have the talent on that side) this could be a great year!!!
GOOOOO DAWGS….SIC EM!
Adonisdaking
June 14th, 2010
1:49 pm
Our Offensive Line Will Be A Strong Part All Are Returning Starters and They Are Going To Come In Like They Left Off Last Year Running The Ball Well..OT Clint Boling | 6-5, 304, Sr., 3V / OG Cordy Glenn | 6-5, 329, Jr., 2V / C Ben Jones | 6-3, 298, Jr., 2V / OG Chris Davis | 6-4, 295, Sr., 3V / 78 Josh Davis | 6-6, 305, Sr., 3V…..The Offensive Line Is Full Of Jr’s and Sr’s….We Will Surpass Expectations This Year…
AltamahaDawg
June 14th, 2010
1:57 pm
Good call out of Savannah. Figgins being out really turned that position into a WR just trying to get in somebodies way during the run instead of an actual blocking lineman that can catch the ball as well. I assume our young TE’s have made some progress with thier blocking skills by now but we certainly had to work around that at times last year.
How2fish
June 14th, 2010
2:00 pm
harold,harold..please take the meds. Baring injury the O line should be very good this year..if we can get past SC healthy we could be in for a very good year.
ryan
June 14th, 2010
2:03 pm
http://edgeteamsports.com/
NRBQ
June 14th, 2010
2:04 pm
TideRoll:
When you have to stoop to Harold to find an ally for your opinion, it’s time to call in the dogs and whiz on the fire. The argument’s over.
How2fish
June 14th, 2010
2:04 pm
Urban Meyer no need to apologize..with the high powered meds your on, one year just sorta melds into another…but what ya going to do, coping without Tebow has got to be tough.
PTC DAWG
June 14th, 2010
2:07 pm
rival fans on blogs…always a HOOT!!
AltamahaDawg
June 14th, 2010
2:19 pm
Actually maddawg, going into 2008 the OLine was the listed area of possible concerns in the preseason rundowns. Sturdivant got a lot of talk, but I don’t recall folks saying that our very young line was a stregnth overall. (other than the normal assumptions that any big school “should” have that covered) And even thinking it might have been, the line that ended the season didn’t look anything like it did in the summer.
As I recall the 2009 optimism was based on the fact that since we had played so many different linemen, we had to be more experienced. More experienced…? yes, but for all the wrong reasons.
You would have to think that this year some of that starts to pay off. Very few of them missed the spring, (as they had in 2009) and most of them are more physically mature and 3rd year players now.
tide roll
June 14th, 2010
2:21 pm
Scroll down! if I listed Austin Long, Kolton houston ben jones, tanner stricland and jonathan owens you all would be clamoring for heights weights and times. It’s high time uga stops this non-sense and starts playing the athletes that give them the best chance to win, mnamly Sturdivant, Glenn, Burnette, Anderson and Davis
Urban Meyer
June 14th, 2010
2:32 pm
Actually AltamahaDawg, you have no idea what your talking about. Most preseason publications, and for goodness sake every DAWG report I had to stomach in 2009, had Georgia tabbed as one of the best OL in the country. Here is just one report from Athlon:
http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football/16915/2009-best-units-offensive-line
It was considered by just about everyone to be the strength of their team. Funny think about print media AltamahaDawg, you can run but you can’t hide.
BrokeBackJacket
June 14th, 2010
2:51 pm
IF Sturdivant is back 100% healthy is will be UGA’s best starting OL….PERIOD…he was his freshman year. If Strickland is healthy he will play and play well!
As a result of an unusually injuries which caused CSS to play lots of our OL’s at different positions..that will be an added strength.
I am not as brilliant at knowing as much about football as Tide Roll (I guess CMR planned Sturdivant’s injuries so he could replace him with another player of his choosing)!
BTW Tide Roll…why do you sit and troll blogs all day when it is painfully obvious that with your infinite wisdom and expertise about college football? You obviously should have a job in coaching knocking down somewhere between 500,000 and 3 mil a year……IDIOT!
Berzerk8dawg
June 14th, 2010
3:00 pm
If our oline just cuts the penalties in half from last year and gets better they will be very good. ALso we have alot of depth to work with.
mike loves mandy
June 14th, 2010
3:02 pm
i quit reading Tide Roll when i saw that he could not
spell “rumor” correctly…
Bulldog59
June 14th, 2010
3:18 pm
Mike loves Mandy, I should have done the same!
Bulldog59
June 14th, 2010
3:23 pm
Just an FYI. Lemay met with the school board today, decision in 7-10 days.
How2fish
June 14th, 2010
3:26 pm
Urban Meyer your MEDS did it again you just melded the years together. AltamahaDawg was referring to 2008 and you were looking at 2009 big difference as far as the chatter about the O line. Your not driving I hope? .
FLA DAWG
June 14th, 2010
3:43 pm
Most Dawg Fans do not realize that Herschel ran behind one of the best College Offensive Lines in the country for three years. I don’t mean to take anything away from Herschel – he was the best, but a very good O Line and some runners (which we have) The Dawgs just need to develop a passing game which will take some time with a kid who never took a college game snap.
Don’t look for much out of Sturdivant. At best he’ll have an impact halfway through the season. You don’t miss two straight seasons and come in strong the first game. But I hope I’m wrong. He has great potential.
KnoxDawg
June 14th, 2010
3:48 pm
Whatever happened to Austin Long, the highly regarded recruit from the state of Tennessee?
1eyedJack
June 14th, 2010
4:15 pm
KnoxDawg
Back surgery last year.
Pope UGA XXIII
June 14th, 2010
4:37 pm
This is where the offense has to look to “get the ball game going”.
Believe that’s exactly what will happen this year in Athens. For
confirmation of what a strong O-line will do, please contact Head
Coach Paul Johnson at the North Avenue Trade School in Atlanta.
turkeycaller
June 14th, 2010
4:48 pm
Don’t rely too much on Sturdivant as evidenced by his past injury record. Could help and even be a big help but you must admit the obvious. He hasn’t played much for two seasons and that should be a concern. Ga. will run a balanced offense if Murray shows he is conscious of the ball. I think we will need to utilize both rushing and passing for either one to be consistently effective. Think you will see some things that have been missing from Richt on offense such as that quick slant across the middle and again,dependant on Murray’s performance, more play action than we have shown in a while. Altamaha, I don’t remember many deep kickoffs. I remember the frustration I felt when we kicked off with so many short directional attempts allowing opponents great field position time after time. Don’t know how things will shape up and fall but there is a good chance of seeing a quality team develop for us.
Urban Meyer
June 14th, 2010
4:55 pm
How2fish, your such a blinded Dawg homer. Do you know how long we’ve been hearing the offensive line at Georgia is supposed to be good? Even your fellow Dawg fans on this post are bringing it up. Insult all you want but remember “running back by committee”, “deepest most talented OL in the country”, “the 3/4 is the defense.” The story lines get spun every season and the Dawgy fans lap up the Kool-Aid, it’s just comical to the outside observer. You’re the Clemson fans of the SEC. Your team has gone undefeated once and your fan base is on undefeated season 17, ha!
CHDawg
June 14th, 2010
5:14 pm
Folks,
I agree that the key to 10 is the O line. We simply don’t know how good they are…Urb wanna be is right about the line being trumpeted last year, and they just weren’t as good as they were expected to be. I didn’t think they looked that great in the Spring game. Having said that, they were still very young last year, and they do have the potential to be dominant, imo. As I said a few weeks ago, if they are dominant, the Dawgs dominate, if they are just good (like the end of last year), then we have a good, but not great season. We will see in a few months. Let’s hope they are dominant…
Bruce Mac
June 14th, 2010
5:19 pm
TIde Roll, shouldn’t you be buzy pollishing that crystal trophy and stroking Coach Saban on BAMMER.COM. Why do you care what goes on in Athens?. Please take Harold with you as he too adds nothiing and makes absolutely no sense.
Dawgforlife
June 14th, 2010
5:21 pm
roll tide…are you saying the o-line starters are chosen based on race?…statements like “know what I mean”…wink wink and..”going against the laws of nature” make it sound as though you think UGA purposely snubs black players…well, lets see…Green, Wooten, King, Glenn, Ealey, Vance, Boykin, Rambo, White, Charles, Cuff, Josh Davis, Dobbs, Dowtin, Figgins, Gamble, Houston, Arby Jones, T. King, Tyson, Waashington, A. White….yeah we definitely don’t allow blacks to play because of bias….you do realize we have 4 of 22 players who are white listed as starters…I don’t know what point your trying to make?
HD
June 14th, 2010
5:23 pm
I hope I’m wrong, but I think our line is very overrated. The only great performance our line had was against Tech. We looked awful at the beginning of the year. We got better as the year went on, but the line’s performances against Auburn , KY, and TX A&M even late in the season were very mediocre. Again, I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t understand why we think our line is going to be so exceptional just because we had one dominating performance against GT (a pretty bad defense).
how2fish
June 14th, 2010
5:25 pm
Urban Meyer glad you got that off your chest before you ran into another reporter..that would have been ugly. By the way you calling anyone a blind homer is a HOOT! In 2008 the Dawgs question marks were centered on the O line in 2009 until the injuries piled up it was not a question mark..that simple enough to get thur that MED induced state your playing in these days ?
tide roll
June 14th, 2010
5:34 pm
HD You,re right to be concerned. I think they think they,ll be great because of the number of starts they,ve had. It,s crazy i know, but that,s UGA.
Go DAwgs
June 14th, 2010
5:39 pm
We are horrible. EW have no RBs, no QBs, and no O-line that is any good. Looking forward to 2011!
Dave In Tampa
June 14th, 2010
5:40 pm
I’m not worried about our Offense. Murray will surprise a lot of people. He IS that good. O-Line is strong along with our RB’s/WR’s. However, Defense wins you games. So that is my main concern. We will know where this team stands after the Arkansas game.