Prepare to be shocked by this.
Here’s one possible reason Georgia struggled so much on offense last season: It had guards playing tackle.
At least that seems to be the case based on the projections of NFL scouts. The Bulldogs’ starting left tackle last season, Tyler Catalina, and starting right tackle, Greg Pyke, both say they likely will play guard on the next level.
Too bad Pittman’s just a position coach. I guess what Georgia really needed last season was a miracle worker.
Best of luck to those two at the next level, by the way.
Get The Picture 
This was so obvious i wondered why Catalina and Wynn didn’t switch positions permanently early in the season. Catalina was way too slow and it showed immediately in the UNC game. I guess he was too slow to be a pulling guard.
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The reason you leave Catalina at Tackle is that you can give him some help by chipping with a TE or a crack-back. Guards are on an island on passing downs.
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I would have taken a chance with him against a defensive tackle as opposed to a speed rusher on the edge even with help.
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I am not sure that would have been better on a regular basis. Wynn played tackle better than Tyler, but he’s not really a tackle body, either. We just need some big bodies, We’re getting them, but it may be 2018 before they are fully matured.
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Another reporter asked Smart if he had thought about experimenting with the lineup, and shuffling some players to different spots, or giving different players an opportunity.
“What are you suggesting?” Smart replied.
The reporter replied that he wasn’t suggesting anything, but that Wynn had played left tackle.
“Move Isaiah (to tackle), move Catalina in?” Smart said.
No, just any general thought to shuffling the lineup, the reporter responded, or perhaps Wynn to left tackle, Catalina to right tackle. (The implication being Pyke could then move back to right guard.)
“Because we didn’t practice that in camp, and try that already,” Smart said. “You know, we’ve looked at every combination we can, and we’ll continue to do that. Those guys practice when y’all aren’t there, besides the 12 minutes you are there (for the media viewing period). They do those things, and we look at them. And we go against the defense. We go against (defensive linemen) Trenton (Thompson) and (John Atkins). Then we go over and do one-on-one pass rush when you guys aren’t there. And they pass (protection). And Isaiah does tackle and different guys play guard. At then at the end of the week we say ‘what’s our best lineup?’”
Smart paused for a beat.
“I hope that answers your question,” he added.
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But yet, Wynn supposedly projects going in as the one to beat out at LT this year.
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Hayes will be LT projection whoever that is is WRONG
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Don’t take that post as a defense of CKS or CSP please
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Yeah, the smart-ass replies from Smart are going to wear thin in a hurry this year if we don’t win.
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How dare you question me! I got outcoached by Vandy and Ga. Tech last season.
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But you have to admit, it was a good question phrased really poorly. Should have said “what other combinations do you think you might try going forward”.
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Yeah, that hadn’t happened previously since 2014 and 2013. Kirby had growing pains and a dogshit OL and an 18 year old QB. Let’s see how things look this year, no?
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For too many years, the Georgia continued to play five-card stud while everyone else was playing five-card draw.
Happy to see Georgia embrace the grad transfer and JUCO options to limit the damaging roster impact of The Georgia Way, but we will continue to operate at a deficit for at least another season.
Also happy to see our guys performing well in the NFL workouts and even happier to see us finally have an indoor option for bad weather on Pro Day.
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Great reporting from the fishwrap beat writer.
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It is still shocking to this day that our former staff paid so little attention to the OL. And a note, I did not realize that Richt hired/retained Searels in Miami. CSS really set our OL back a few years.
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The OL was always CMR’s Achilles Hill. We’ve been paying for that for a long time. I’m a CMR fan but his best OL was perhaps the one he inherited when he got to UGA.
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This is true. Unfortunately, rebuilding an offensive line is perhaps the slowest project of any position group in football.
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Don’t worry about blocking. Knowshon will know what to do.
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“Just put a hat on someone, simple” said the former HC
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Just part of the throw away season. I think the only reason the coaches played last season at all was to show how bad we were and how much we needed tackles and other offensive lineman. The play calling was probably part of the master plan. Brilliant.
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I have not played football since 9th grade, but I think it may be fair to say the macro view of our offensive line situation last year is: they were trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
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And yet, when we spread it out and ran wide, we actually gained yards. Just crazy.
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They were recruited to spread it out but Kirby wants a more physical style of man-ball. I think if we had beat UT, we would have continued with the spread stuff. However, once we were out of the race, I think Kirby decided to go all in on the transition year.
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This was so obvious, even I figured it out while it was happening.
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Alex, I’ll take “things we knew a year ago that can be recycled during the off season to make our staff look bad to the casual fan” for $1,000.
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Sort of like losing to Vandy and Tech at home.
Those things happened last year but are easily recycled to make these guys look bad.
Hmm…now that I think about it, there are a lot of things that happened last year that can make this group of coaches look bad.
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Because losing to Vandy and Tech at home had never happened before?
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We won’t win any sort of title without an OL that dominates. I miss the 2002 OL group
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