Kirby Smart opens up on Tate Ratledge, competition at guard

Georgia’s offensive line headed into the 2022 season is considered to be one of the best. On3’s Jesse Simonton ranked the Bulldogs as the No. 1 unit in the SEC. Phil Steele had them No. 2 overall, and others agree. While the ranking certainly has a lot to do with the return of Warren McClendon and Sedrick Van Pran as well as the ceiling of a guy like Broderick Jones who started some games last season and seems cemented into the left tackle position, there’s still two other spots, and Georgia is talented there too.

As we reported last week seeing practice for the first time this fall, Devin Willock and Tate Ratledge were running with the ones at left and right guard respectively. Xavier Truss and Warren Ericson are still a part of the competition for those spots, one that Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said would be decided in practice.

“Yeah, the why (on winning the position battle) would be based on how they practice. So I think that’s hard. Because going into fall camp, they might have strengths in the eyes. One guy may be better at pass pro, one guy more powerful. One guy may be more intelligent. One guy may be more dependable because he’s there every day because he’s able to practice every day and he’s not out for injury. But we’re going to base the decision on how they practice, and I don’t have that body of work to say what that is,” Smart said. “But the guys will roll in there. Warren Ericson will be in there. Tate will be in there. Truss will be in there. Willock will be in there. (Dylan) Fairchild will be in there. I mean, all these guys are factors and they’re there to compete for this job. And we want the best one to win out. But at the end of the day, we’re going to have guys — Micah (Morris) is going to be another guy in there competing for it. So there’s a lot of guys that have played some football.”

“Guard’s a unique position because it’s different than tackle. You can get attacked from all angles,” he continued. “You got to play with power, play against the best defensive tackles in the country who line up across from you, the Jordan Davises and Devontes (Wyatt) are in our league. So you got to be able to withstand their pressure and them pushing the pocket. So you got to be able to generate power and be able to communicate outwardly to your tackle. So the factors that go into playing guard for us are endless. And we’re going to find out who the best guys are based on practices.”

Smart was asked more specifically about Tate Ratledge than any of the other guards. That’s because he’s coming back off of an injury that cut his 2021 season short. Ratledge, a high-four star and the No. 4-ranked offensive tackle in the country in the Class of 2020, won Georgia’s right guard spot coming out of camp last year. He started the season opener against Clemson but suffered a foot injury on the opening drive. Season over.

Smart said that Ratledge has done exactly what he needs to do in order to get back into the mix but also cautioned that some of the intricacies that it takes to play offensive line at a high level might take some time to come back to him.

“Tate has been great,” Smart said. “He’s worked really hard at his conditioning. Ron (Courson) feels like he’s in a position where what we did in summer training would have been tougher on him coming off the injury than actual football practice. So the football practice piece should relieve some of that. Now, the strain and effort to push off and double teams, as we put on pads, may increase that. But he’s in a good spot. He’s been rotating in with the first group and the second group. I do think there is a matter of coming back where you haven’t, you know, passed off or twist, you haven’t passed off a stunt. There’s some quick back guys inside that he’s going to take some reps to get that back. But certainly feel good about where he is and his toughness.”

Both Tate Ratledge and Devin Willock continued to run with the first team during media observations periods on Sunday. Media is expected to get at least one observation period this coming week where the offensive line is certainly to be a point of emphasis on watching again.