UGA's offensive line, fighting injuries, looks to ‘really attack practice’ ahead of Tennessee game

ATHENS – This past summer, Pro Football Focus featured Georgia redshirt sophomore Earnest Greene III as one of its “10 Tackles to Know” for the 2025 NFL Draft.

The scouting site said the 6-foot-4, 320-pound offensive lineman’s athleticism “pops off the tape” and added that he “explodes out of his stance and easily gets to the second level.” The website predicted that Greene could “go very high next April” in the draft.

The player described therein hasn’t shown up for the Bulldogs this season. In fact, Greene proved to be liability Saturday night in Mississippi, the latest disappointing performance this season from Georgia’s injury-plagued offensive line.

After giving up just one sack last season, Greene gave up two of the five sacks the Bulldogs allowed, was responsible for several other quarterback hurries and struggled to run-block as well.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked Monday what ails his star tackle as the 11th-ranked Bulldogs (7-2) get set to host No. 6 Tennessee (8-1) on Saturday.

“No. 1, he plays the hardest position in all of football, which is the left tackle position,” Smart said. “I think he’s done really well.”

Smart then backtracked a bit, saying Greene has been dealing with a complicated shoulder injury known as a burner or stinger.

“It’s a really tough injury to manage,” Smart said. “Even last week, he was limited in how many reps he could get in practice.”

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Greene is not alone. His injury is just one of many to befall Georgia’s offensive line this season.

Preseason All-American guard Tate Ratledge missed four games after suffering a high-ankle sprain against Kentucky in Week 3. Ratledge had what’s known as TightRope surgery on Sept. 16 to stabilize the ankle, recovered for six weeks and then came back against Florida on Nov. 2.

That was just in the nick of time, as Micah Morris — who started five games in Ratledge’s absence — was injured with a lower-leg injury in the first half against the Gators. Morris traveled but could not play last Saturday against Ole Miss.

Though still sore from overuse the previous week, Rutledge started but managed only 17 snaps against the Rebels, and so the Bulldogs brought in Drew Bobo to play 16 snaps at the position against Ole Miss. Bobo had started two games at center earlier this year after Jared Wilson suffered a lower-leg injury against Alabama on Sept. 28.

Finally, right tackle Xavier Truss has logged numerous snaps as a fill-in at guard, which led to sophomore Monroe Freeling coming in to play tackle.

“Yeah, it’s tough right now,” Smart said of constant lineup shuffling this year.

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Compare that to last season, when five linemen started 10 or more games for the Bulldogs, including two players who started every game.

Pass protection has not been the only issue. Georgia is having one of its worst seasons in years running the football.

The Bulldogs’ rank 15th in the 16-team SEC in rushing at 124.1 yards per game. They had 59 against the Rebels, their lowest total since running for 45 in the Peach Bowl against Cincinnati following the 2020 season.

“We just need to get better; it’s as plain and simple as that,” junior guard Dylan Fairchild said Monday. “We just need to attack this week of practice and clean up some footwork and some things that, you know, trouble most offensive lines. We’ve just got to really attack practice this week and get better with the fundamentals.”

The Vols will arrive Saturday at Sanford Stadium with a defense that ranks among the top 10 in the nation in at least eight statistical categories: third down conversions allowed (second at 24.2%), yards per play allowed (third at 4.2yards), scoring defense (fifth at 12.9points per game), total yards allowed (fifth at 271.6 per game), red zone scoring defense (fifth at 66.6%), tackles for loss (seventh at 7.9per game), rush defense (ninth at 100.0yards per game) and first downs allowed (ninth at 16.2 per game).

Tennessee is on a streak of 20 games without allowing an opponent over 20 points, and preseason All-American defensive end James Pearce Jr. has recorded at least a half-sack or tackle for loss in six straight games. He tops the team with 5½ sacks and 7½ tackles for loss.

“They’re extremely disruptive with four people (on the line),” Smart said. “… They’ve got elite rushers on the edge, which we all know about, but nobody talks about how hard they play.”

A reason for hope against the Vols is that the Bulldogs had success against this group last season.

Georgia piled up 472 yards in a 38-10 win last year in Knoxville, Tennessee, with Carson Beck throwing for 298 yards and three touchdowns and wideout Dillon Bell catching a TD and throwing one.

This year, the Bulldogs will try to recapture that offensive magic at night in Sanford Stadium in a what’s being characterized as a playoff elimination game. Football Bowl Subdivision will have 12 teams in the College Football Playoff for the first time this season.

“We want to be more productive and be able to throw the ball vertically down the field,” Smart said. “We want to be able to set up play-action off our (running) backs and their ability to run the ball. Some games we’ve been able to do that better than others. But regardless of those two things, we must protect the football.”

Said Fairchild: “All of us would like to go back and do one thing different. That’s just human nature when you have a loss. But I’d say the urgency has spiked in practice. It’s spiked in preparation and all the things we do to try to win.”