Okay — who’s in the mood to do some random speculating about who’s gonna be Georgia’s starting five on the offensive line come the opener?
Start with this:
I tend to believe the coaches are going to lean in the direction of experience in picking the five to block Clemson, so I think the odds that Jones and Mims are going to be the starters at tackle are slim, to say the least. But I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them there by season’s end. That would also give them the opportunity to slide Salyer to guard, which is where I think his future lies.
Your thoughts/speculation?
Get The Picture 
I think the big questions are who is center and how soon is Mimi ready?
My guess is Salyer at LT, Shaffer at LG, Ericson at C (though this could be Webb), Condon at RG, and Truss at RT.
If Webb can handle the snaps, we have a center for the next three years. Big considering we lose two off the line next season. Truss at RT would be huge to give again stability to the line in the future and give Mim’s a year to grow into taking over at LT for Salyer when he leaves next year.
Just my two cents.
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Did you forget about McClendon starting at RT since replacing a terribly ineffective Condon in the first game? Van Prann will be the favorite at center, Webb has been practicing exclusively at guard. I think both Condon and Truss have been passed by and are longshots to ever start over the talent signed in the last two classes.
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Just my stab at it. All have size you want and have a few years of learning the position and getting bigger. Cordon is a better guard than tackle. Tackle is harder than guard.
Van Prann would do well at center too. Forgot Webb has been doing the guard work. Perhaps he could be RG.
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I don’t know enough about OL play to speculate. I’ll go with experience and I’d like Luke to nail it down early fall practice so there’s no doubt in anyone’s role come Clemson time.
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I believe Salyer could start on any line, anywhere in cfb. After that, my guess is returning vets like Shaffer, McClendon and Ericson. But I could see any, or all three of them, supplanted by Jones, Mims, Webb, Ratledge, etc. I’ll be scratching my head if we DON’T see one or two of our highly regarded recruits from ‘20 & ‘21 take over a starting job.
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Webb looks really small out there compared to our other guys. That does not mean he can’t be our best lineman.
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Anybody hear anything about Chad Lindberg? He’s from my area and was just wondering if he’ll ever crack the lineup. 4* out of Texas.
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McClendon- Shaffer- Ericson- Salyer- Jones or Ratledge.
I could see Ratledge taking any spot but Center. I can also see Van Pran starting at Center
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That breakdown was very difficult to watch… I’m sure they had good intentions though.
O-line prediction: (talent wins out over experience)
LT – Jones
LG – Shaffer
C – Van Pran
RG – Salyer
RT – Mims
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I would be shocked if that’s the starting five against Clemson.
Also, they’re not moving Salyer from the left side of the line.
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I originally had Salyer at LG, but then thought Shaffer was there most his career.
I agree to you point about experience in game 1, and it wouldn’t shock me, but there’s also an argument to be made for the best guy to be in there in an attempt to stonewall their strong front.
In Luke we trust! (and Monken of course)
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Hey Clayton, Graham from the show here. We had a few technical difficulties along the way, but thanks for bearing with us. The road to bad production is paved with good intentions as they say.
As far as taking a crack at the starting o-line…
Clemson
LT- Mims
LG – Salyer
C – Ericson
RG – Shaffer
RT – McClendon
Sleeper: Devin Willock, who is a mountain of a man that everyone seems to rave about despite being a less-heralded recruit
Georgia Tech
LT – Jones
LG- Salyer
C – Van Pran
RG – McClendon
RT – Mims
Swiss Army Knife who gets tons of snaps – Ericson
That could be miles off too, but I feel fairly certain that Mims is going to be too talented to keep off the field, and I think it’s possible that depending on how he’s performing McClendon stays at tackled and Jones ends up playing guard for a year. The thing to remember is that Luke/Monken like o-lineman that can pull and get outside as well as to the 2nd level. The Pittman era was mostly about being big. But if Monken’s history is any sort of an indicator we’re going to see a lot more man blocking schemes on the outside instead of zones. We will see some transfers along the line this year if I had to guess, and I would guess that those will be the guys who can’t develop the quickness and footwork that TM and ML want to see up front.
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Ericson seems weak to me. Hope he proves me wrong. Seems like he got pushed by Cincy. Just doesn’t seem like the answer at center. Glad we have some options.
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