When it comes to the offensive line for Georgia football, not much is certain.
It’s likely head coach Kirby Smart won’t name a starting lineup until the last minute, which is something he said he’s not worried about doing.
It’s not his priority.
The coaching staff is only worried about finding the best five players to fill the positions. But Smart is also concerned about finding other places those players and their backups can fit in.
“Y’all want to know really bad who the starting offensive line is,” Smart said. “That’s not the goal for us.”
The main goal for them is making sure they have guys who are ready to play, and can play many different positions on the offensive line. For example, if the season were to start today, the offensive line may look something like senior Isaiah Wynn at left tackle, redshirt sophomore Pat Allen at left guard, junior Lamont Gaillard at center, redshirt freshman Solomon Kindley at right guard and freshman Andrew Thomas at right tackle.
But that doesn’t mean junior Kendall Baker or senior Dyshon Sims won’t be able to jump in if they’re needed.
“The goal for us is to get the best five in the best five spots,” Smart said. “And then get all the others work where they can play if somebody goes down.”
If somebody on the offensive line were to suffer an injury, Smart just hopes it isn’t Wynn. He said that would be the “toughest loss” the team could deal with. Because of that, offensive line coach Sam Pittman has been working some other players into the left tackle position to make sure the team has somebody prepared in that situation.
The team has also been rotating the guards between Allen, Solomon and Baker in hopes of finding the best fit for the position, but also giving them experience on the left and right side of the line in case one of them is injured.
“We’ll continue to move guys,” Smart said. “That never stops. It’s just, are they getting 80 percent of their reps where they play in the game and then 20 percent where if something happens.”