Austin Blaske, Earnest Greene making progress in battle to be Georgia's left tackle
ATHENS, Ga. — The starting left tackle position at Georgia has become an honor and an indicator of sorts. Austin Blaske and Earnest Greene are the two guys competing for it right now and Kirby Smart seems quite encouraged by their growth.
Look at the last four guys who have held that job at Georgia — Isaiah Wynn, Andrew Thomas, Jamaree Salyer, and Broderick Jones. Wynn and Thomas were first-round picks and are starters in the NFL. Salyer was a seventh-round pick but became a starter in year one. Jones is widely considered a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which begins later this month.
Blaske and Greene are doing all they can to call next. Who can blame them? All competitors want to play and, if recent history is any indication, millions of dollars could be on the line. Blaske has gotten most of the left tackle work this spring while Greene, who missed all of last season with a back injury, is coming along nicely.
“He’s a competitor,” Smart said of Blaske. “I don’t know if there is anybody on the offensive line that practices as hard and as physical as he does day in and day out. He doubles as a center too. He goes in and plays center as well, so he’s really intelligent. He works really hard. He’s really good on our loose plays. He can cover down. He’s athletic. He does a good job.”
“Earnest is doing a really phenomenal job as well,” Smart continued. “Earnest gives us something we didn’t have in the last couple of years. In the run game he is really physical. He moves people. Those two guys are battling it out there.”
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In reality, it’s shaping up like the last season when the Bulldogs used Jones, Warren McClendon and Amarius Mims, at the tackle positions. It was a rotation of sorts with Jones starting at left tackle, McClendon starting at right tackle when healthy, and Mims rotating in.
Mims, who entered the transfer portal last offseason but eventually decided to stick it out at Georgia, would enter the game at right tackle and McClendon would either get a breather or he would slide over to the left side so Jones could conserve some energy. That’s why playing right tackle is something being added to the plates of Blaske and Greene. Sources tell DawgsHQ that Mims hasn’t done much on the left side to the point but Smart indicates that it could be coming.
“We have to be able to flip too,” Smart said. “They just can’t all be one side. Whether Amarius (Mims) is there or at left you have to have at least a couple of tackles that can flip. Go back and forth. They both have done a good job of doing that”
