Kirby Smart has 'high bar' for Georgia offensive tackles in position battle
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia is replacing two NFL-level offensive tackles this offseason. Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon both decided to forego remaining eligibility and turn pro, leaving Stacy Searels and the Bulldogs with a pair of spots to fill starting the spring.
“We have a pretty high bar for what the standard is at offensive tackle at Georgia and those two guys last year played really well. We’ll have good competition this year,” Smart said on Tuesday, the first day of spring drills for Georgia.
Amarius Mims is expected to take one of the two spots after starting the final two games of the season and playing over 30% of the total offensive snaps in 2022. The former five-star isn’t the only talented offensive lineman waiting in the wings though. Others including Earnest Greene, Austin Blaske, Monroe Freeling and Chad Lindberg were also mentioned by Smart.
“Earnest is in a good spot,” Smart said about the redshirt freshman lineman after he didn’t play at all in 2022 due to various injuries including a back surgery that ended his season in October. “Thank goodness Ron (Courson) had the foresight to have the surgery, I think it was October 10 maybe, sometime in October he had the surgery in the thought that we would get him back for spring. His conditioning level may not be exactly where we need it to be but he’s been working out with the team. He’s been doing offseason workouts with the team. He’s been able to do all the stuff he’s required to do. He’ll go out there and compete. Amarius Mims will go out there. (Austin) Blaske will be out there. Monroe Freeling will be out there, Chad Lindberg. We’ll have a lot of guys competing at tackle.”
Greene was considered to be the favorite to replace either Jones or McClendon opposite of Mims when the two pro prospects were asked about it at the NFL Scouting Combine. The nation’s No. 48 overall player and No. 3 interior offensive lineman in the Class of 2022 according to the On3 Industry Ranking, Greene bumped out to tackle last spring and started for the Red Team at left tackle on G-Day.
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Meanwhile, with Blaske, Freeling and Lindberg – the other lesser proven options – Georgia has a wide variety of skillsets. Two – Blaske and Lindberg – have been on campus for multiple seasons and seen how things operate while the other, and maybe most talented of them, is just a matter of months into his time in Athens.
“Monroe (Freeling), I don’t know if I can tell you a lot more about him. We’ve only had him for, I guess, maybe eight weeks, six weeks, whatever it is. He didn’t come in early during bowl practices and practice with us, but he’s really done well in workouts. He’s extremely flexible, he’s tough, he can run, he’s got great length, he’s added some weight, but I haven’t seen the guy play football, OK? So I can’t go and say what he can and can’t do,” Smart said. “Now, Austin Blaske has played a lot of football. He’s worked at tackle. He worked while Warren McClendon was out there for a while, he got a lot of reps at tackle. He competes at tackle. He’s really athletic. He can flip over and play at center, so I’ve seen him and know he’s a very vital candidate to compete for one of the starting jobs.”
Georgia’s practice on Tuesday will be the first of 15 over the next 33 days including three scrimmages. Spring practice culminates on April 15th with the G-Day spring game in Sanford Stadium at 4:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
