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Improved Georgia offensive line has motivation after award snub

Palmber-Thombsby: Palmer Thombs12/28/22palmerthombs
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Tony Walsh / UGA Sports Communications

ATLANTA — The improvement of Georgia’s offensive line has been paramount to the team’s success this season. Coming into the year, a left tackle had to be replaced and both guard spots were up for grabs. Sure, there were talented options on the table, but it still was going to take time for the group to gel. As the season went along, they did just that and more, but a second-place finish for the Joe Moore Award seems to have provided an extra sense of motivation as the Bulldogs head into the Peach Bowl.

Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran didn’t want to talk about it, giving off a sense of the Bulldogs being snubbed, and his teammates tend to agree.

“Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled either,” offensive tackle Broderick Jones said. “At the end of the day, we still have work to do. I couldn’t look at it too much because of what we have ahead of us. I’m trying to stay focused on bigger goals that we have ahead.”

Jones’ sentiment is one that’s shared in the offensive line room. Winning the Joe Moore would have been awesome, but there are actual games to win as opposed to awards. The improvement that they’ve made makes that possible.

“I think really what has helped our development throughout the season has been Coach Searels,” Van Pran said. “He’s really done a great job of preparing more than five guys. He’s done a tremendous job of getting guys like Amarius, Jared Wilson. I know I’m forgetting some guys. But honestly all those guys, he’s done a tremendous job of making sure we can put a lot of guys in and still have very similar production. So I want to give all the credit to Coach Searels in preparing us.”

“You gotta have good players. If you have good players that work their butts off every day, have elite attention to detail, they’re going to continue to get better,” Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken added. “I think we have to remember that Broderick (Jones) hadn’t played a lot of football until this year. Sed was a one-year starter. Tate was out all last year. Amarius Mims hadn’t played a lot of football. Xavier Truss was not a starter before. Devin Willock had not played a lot of football. So I think if you’ve got the right guys that have talent that are elite in terms of attention to detail and try to play physical every week, they’re going to continue to improve.”

Georgia is set to square off against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal. The Buckeyes bring to the table a defensive front featuring a pair of former five-star-plus players in Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau. Kickoff time from Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set for Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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