While most of the focus has been on Georgia’s offense since J.T. Daniel emerged from off-season surgery, retooling the offensive line may be the most important project for Kirby Smart and offensive line coach Matt Luke. The process began with the 2021 Sugar Bowl when Luke was forced to replace opt-outs Ben Cleveland and Trey Hill and will continue as UGA kicks off Spring practice on March 16.

“I’m really excited about the competition coming up this Spring,” Luke said yesterday. As Kirby Smart noted in his interview, some 60-65 percent of the current roster has never been through a UGA Spring practice. Coach Luke will have 15 practices this Spring, Summer workouts, and Fall Camp to find replacements for 40% of last year’s offensive line. As Luke noted during the interview,” The best way for guys to get better at football is to go play football.”

“I think that anytime you have to replace people, it is tough, especially going against a quality defense. I do think that, moving forward, we do have some pieces to the puzzle, but they have to go in there and get the experience. That is why guys like Jamaree [Salyer], guys like [Justin] Shaffer, guys like Warren Ericson, that have been around, they can help set the tempo and lead these guys moving forward with spring coming up.”

We can not wait for the 16th, so Coach Luke and his guys can play some football.