Xavier Truss continuing to grow, develop in first year as starter at Georgia

It’s a well known fact that Georgia offensive lineman Xavier Truss isn’t from any sort of football hot bed. The Rhode Island native even joked with media members on Wednesday that it’s their favorite question for the Warwick (R.I.) Bishop Hendricken product. But based on his play in 2022, you won’t know that Truss hadn’t always been accustomed to seeing the sort of competition that he does now as a starter in the SEC.

“Coming here, committing here, I knew that this is what I needed to become the best player I could, to come play SEC ball,” Truss said on Wednesday. “Nobody out of Rhode Island goes anywhere big, and if they do, you never really hear about them in the SEC. So I think that was a big opportunity for me.”

“Getting here and not getting the playing time that I wanted my freshman year, it kind of messed with my head a little bit, but I have such a support staff around me that they helped me that it’s all part of the process and that when I’m ready to play, I’ll play,” he continued. “I finally kind of understood that and just worked on getting to be the best that I could.”

Truss finally is getting the kind of reps that he imagined he would when he arrived on campus back in 2019. He took over the starting spot at left guard in the offseason and hasn’t looked back.

“The first thing he’s done is he’s seized opportunity. He’s gotten better each and every day, each and every year really,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said of Truss. “I mean, he came in as a kid who had not played against a lot of high level competition, and I think the tempo, atmosphere and just practice environment was a big adjustment for him. How do you sustain working really hard, because you go out and practice each day really really hard and physical? It’s no different based on where he’s from geographically as it is for anybody. They’re just not used to high intensity reps, the volume of reps, and he’s now become accustomed to that.”

“He’s much more physical,” Smart continued. “He’s been really good in terms of displacement on gap plays and doing a really good job of creating an identity on the offensive line. I’m so proud of how far he’s come.

Truss agreed with his head coach. He is accustomed to that kind of a culture now and is a big part of why the offensive line has picked things up as of late. After struggling to get things going at times early in the season, the Bulldogs rushed for 107 yards in the fourth quarter at Missouri on their way to a come-from-behind 26-22 win. Then, this past Saturday against Auburn, they put up a season-high 292 yards on the ground and paved the way for six rushing touchdowns.

“The work that we put in in the spring and the offseason and just the confidence that I’ve built in myself, I think that I was prepared,” Truss said about taking over the starting job in the offseason. “I was so exciting going in. I went through all the emotions before the Oregon game because obviously I hadn’t started a game since a whole season before (Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl versus Cincinnati during the 2020 season), so it was hard but I knew I was ready when I felt that excitement to go out there and play against Oregon.”

“From Cincinnati to now, a lot of different aspects of my game have changed,” Truss went on to say. “Pass blocking, run blocking, controlling my nutrition better, getting stronger in the weight room and just working on the little things. Even building a connection more with my teammates and coaches and everybody, I think that’s all played a huge part … We have a great o-line, and that helps. Especially having Stetson back there and like I said, just having everybody around me doing their part. If I can continue to do my part, that’s all that matters to me.”

Truss and Georgia take on Vanderbilt this Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Kickoff time for the homecoming game between the hedges is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.