Georgia interior OL duo among top returnees in country
Georgia’s got a squad of some of the nation’s top offensive players coming back centered around quarterback Carson Beck. There’s talent at wide receiver, tight end and running back, but none of that means anything if the offensive line can’t block. Good news for the Dawgs? There’s talented returnees there too.
Pro Football Focus recently named Tate Ratledge and Dylan Fairchild two of the top 10 returning interior offensive linemen.
Ratledge started 13 of 14 games for Georgia at right guard, missing the regular season finale due to injury before returning for the postseason. He was a top-10 graded player on offense – No. 5 among those that played at least 30% of the total offensive snaps – and earned a second-team nod as an AP All-American. Ratledge was also included on the All-SEC First Team by both the AP and Coaches. Over the course of his career, Ratledge has made 28 starts including the season-opener for the Bulldogs in each of the last three years.
“Ratledge is the top guard on this list for his dominant pass blocking,” Max Chadwick wrote. “His 87.4 pass-blocking grade in 2023 ranked third among Power Five guards, as did his 1.3% pressure rate allowed. The right guard also placed third among Power Five guards in pass-blocking grade on true pass sets (83.8). Ratledge’s excellence in pass protection extends back to 2022, his first year as a starter. He ranked fourth in pass-blocking grade (87.1), third in pressure rate allowed (1.4%) and second in pass-blocking grade on true pass sets (85.6) among Power Five guards that season. The senior is easily the top returning pass-protecting interior offensive lineman in college football.”
As for Fairchild, he didn’t start the season off in the first five but managed to start nine games and play in all 14. After seeing action in just six games prior to 2023, Fairchild got the starting nod against UAB after an injury to Amarius Mims moved Xavier Truss from left guard to right tackle. According to Chadwick, Fairchild did not allow a sack or a hit on the quarterback in 286 pass blocking snaps, and his grade in that category was the fourth-highest among Power Five guards last season.
“Georgia and Alabama are the only schools with multiple interior offensive linemen gracing this list,” Chadwick wrote. “While it’s debatable which guard duo is better between the two, what’s not arguable is that the best pass-blocking guard tandem resides in Athens … While the Bulldogs must replace star center Sedrick Van Pran, they can rest easy knowing that Ratledge and Fairchild are anchoring the interior in 2024.”
Former Georgia offensive lineman Clay Webb, now at Jacksonville State, also made Chadwick’s list. Alabama center Parker Brailsford, a transfer to Tuscaloosa from Washington, comes in at No. 1 among all interior offensive lineman and is joined by guards Tyler Booker and Jaeden Roberts, giving the Crimson Tide a formidable squad in year one of the Kaelen DeBoer era. Georgia and Alabama will face off early in the season on September 28th at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game has already been announced as a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC and could be the first of a few meetings between the two teams with the SEC Championship Game and 12-team College Football Playoffs offering potential rematches.
