… is… David Andrews? Judging by this comment from the head coach, that doesn’t sound like much of an exaggeration.
The offensive line will remain a work in progress into the fall. After spring, the unit was composed of junior Kenarious Gates (6-5, 328) at left tackle, junior Dallas Lee (6-4, 300) at left guard, sophomore David Andrews (6-2, 280) at center, junior Chris Burnette (6-2, 313) at right guard and sophomore Kolton Houston (6-5, 291) at right tackle, though that doesn’t mean much yet. This remains a fluid situation with very little settled heading into the first game.
Burnette is a proven starter who’ll be there somewhere, either at center or guard. The same goes for Lee. And Gates, who switched this spring from guard to his old high school position, is likely set to replace second-round draft pick Cordy Glenn at left tackle.
The main questions seem to revolve around the center and right tackle positions, with much hinging on whether the inexperienced Andrews can hold on to the starting center job during the preseason. If he can’t, dominos will fall at other spots.
“It would be good for us if [Andrews] was the guy that ended up becoming the center,” Richt said, “because I think Lee and Burnette would be outstanding guards, and Kolton really could play guard or tackle.”
That’s an awful lot of hope to be putting on the shoulders of someone who measures – and at the last G-Day game looked – on the smallish side for an SEC lineman. Fingers crossed, I guess.
Get The Picture 
Size is important for all the linemen, but for the center it isn’t as important as being smart. Let’s hope he is a film room junky.
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Complete agreeance. As noted below, once Theus comes, things may change. As far as pumping sunshine on Theus you don’t need to be putting too damn much pressure on him. There are five OL not counting the TE. We need all five, in some combination. If Andrews can be smart and quick (and maybe learn to cut block here and there) size won’t be nearly as important as for other linemen.
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I hate to open an old wound but apparently someone forgot to tell boise that lineman size mattered. So i guess I’ll wait and see how he performs.
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True but I prefer the memories of Bobo’s last Outback bowl. The mammoth O line of the Wisconsin was suppose to swallow our undersized D line. Josh Mallard was the smallest tackle on our squad and he slapped that O tackle around all day.
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If Theus shows ready to go Burnette will move to C and Houston will take his old spot. I really wish Richt would have pumped sunshine on Theus instead of lamenting David Andrews. The team needs Theus to be ready for prime time instead of a C with question marks.
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I vote for whomever plays Right Tackle. Poor Bean…it was obvious beginning (literally!) in the Boise St. game that AM was going to get pressured from that side all season. Yet we won 10 games, so just suppose Anderson had been a little better….does that change the outcome in any of the 4 losses? BSU out-played and out-coached us…a good O line would not have changed that. USCe…? Too many other mistakes to tell. Certainly not against LSU unless you believe we could have found a ground game to grind them down beginning in the 2Q (I don’t believe that). So maybe Michigan St…which was really a 4th Q defensive collapse and 2 missed FG’s.
So I’m keeping my shining R&B sunglasses on and will believe that the “weakness” of this year’s O line meme is being a bit overblown. These guys are SEC talent. Wins and losses will come from other parts of the program.
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I really hope David Andrews proves me wrong, but at his size he’s going to struggle mightily against very large NT’s. My hope is that Theus comes in and takes over the LT position, moving Gates to LG and Burnette at Center.
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If Andrews can really play, meaning if he’s really a PLAYER, then he’ll be big enough. Especially if our S&C has him improving quickness, speed, and agility, instead of packing on useless pounds (like we’ve done in the past), and that’s supposed to be the plan.
Pollack pushed around linemen 30-60 pounds bigger when he was a sophomore and junior. Boise State pushed around our giant OL last year, even though they were 50 pounds less per man, or whatever. Edgar Chandler went up against legendary Michigan All-America DT Ron Yary at 215 pounds and ate his lunch all day. I mean, whipped his arse BAD.
I’ve seen it happen for 5 decades now, and it hasn’t stopped yet. I think we all have a tendency to make too much out of size these days. What really matter is if a guy can PLAY. The examples mentioned above were nothing more than PLAYERS who were well coached and knew how to play.
I’m hoping Andrews is in that mold. When he committed, his HS coach said something to that effect, IIRC. But in any case, Andrews has a good chance.
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Er, IL. Yary went to Southern Cal and played for the Vikings as a pro. He never payed for the University of Michigan and Edgar Chandler never played against him in college. Pro maybe (don’t know for sure), but not in college. Plus, Edgar was a lot bigger than 215. Other than that you’re right.
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I think the guy you were thinking of is Bill Yearby, AA at DT for Michigan who graduated in 1965 and played for the Jets one season who died recently.
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Yes, I think you’re right, it was Yearby, not Yary. Thanks for catching that, Mayor.
Also, I could be wrong about the weight. Chandler was huge by the time he left Georgia, but he was much smaller his first year on the Varsity. I got that number from Chandler himself, but having more time to think about it and recall, as well as talk to somebody else who was there, I think it was 220, not 215.
At any rate, he gave up a bunch to his man that day, but still whipped his tail. Thanks again.
~~~
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Depth chart shows Andrews at 280 lbs. I looked up the weight of the guys that will be starting against him in our six toughest games. For teams with a 3-4 I only listed one guy. Mizzou 290/295. Vandy 287/290. UT 305. USC 316/286. UF 305/314. AU 290/312. GT 335. The first test he will really be tested by someone that much larger than him is UT in game five. By then he whe w3ill either have establuished himself as the guy or Burnette will have slid over. UF is the only team with a combo of two guys that really out weigh him by a good bit. I don’t think weight will be the issue. He will either be able to step up because of his skill level or not.
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