Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia offensive line recognized
Georgia offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran and the entire Bulldog unit of blockers were both recognized on Wednesday. Van Pran won the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy while the unit was named one of four finalists for the Joe Moore Award.
Van Pran, a native of New Orleans, La., holds Georgia’s longest active streak for consecutive starts. He started at center in all 15 of UGA’s games in each of the past two seasons and all 13 in 2023. Van Pran was an unanimous selection to the AP All-SEC First-Team and earned a spot on the Coaches’ First-Team as well. Meanwhile, nationally, he was chosen as an All-American by CBS and The Athletic – so far. He is also a finalist for the Rimington Trophy, which is awarded annually to the nation’s top center. The winner for that will be announced on Friday.
Van Pran and the Bulldogs paved the way for a Georgia offense that averaged 38.4 points per game, second-best in the SEC and ninth nationally. Meanwhile, the UGA offense is on pace to record the school’s best marks in history for a couple of yardage statistics: yards per play (7.12, No. 7 in NCAA) and yards per game (482.9, No. 8 in NCAA).
Georgia’s offensive line has allowed just 12 sacks in 13 games, the second straight season allowing fewest in the SEC and the third year in a row they’ve been atop the SEC in terms of average. Only adding to the accomplishment of the unit is the fact that they’ve done all this with a rotating cast of characters as six different players started games and more than that were on the field regularly.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Bryce Underwood
Michigan flips No. 1 QB Bryce Underwood from LSU
- 2Hot
JuJu to Colorado
Elite QB recruit Julian Lewis commits to Coach Prime
- 3
Sankey fires scheduling shot
SEC commish fuels CFP fire
- 4
Travis Hunter
Colorado star 'definitely' in 2025 draft
- 5
Strength of Schedule
Ranking SOS of CFP Top 25
“The Georgia O-line Machine rolls on,” one Moore Award committee member said. “Not many units could lose their best player [RT Amarius Mims] in Week 3 and replace him with their LG [Xavier Truss] and not skip a beat. It looks a bit different this year, but the high level of production through all of the injuries on that side of the ball is remarkable. Searels does a great job and this may be the year they break through.”
“I thought this group should’ve won it last year and I voted accordingly,” another added. “They’re built a bit differently this year and the injuries certainly didn’t help, but they still played at an extremely high level in both the run and pass game, and were as good as anybody in college football. This may be their year.”
This is the third straight season that Georgia’s offensive line, coached by Matt Luke for the first and Stacy Searels in each of the last two, has been a finalist for the Joe Moore Award. Other finalists this year include LSU, Oregon and Washington. The winner will be surprised on campus at some point in the next few weeks with their award.
