Recruiting for the Trenches

An Anonymous commenter made the point in Wednesday's post that the offensive line continues to be a concern, yet rarely gets the publicity in the recruiting talk. I agreed, but may have mis-Glory'd when I said the Dawgs may only obtain one more commit on the O-line for this year's class. By my count we only lose one scholarship lineman in Vance.

So with approximately 19 returning biguns, we may be satisfied with what we have: Kholton Houston out of Buford and Brent Benedict of Jacksonville. JuWaun James (OT) of North Gwinnett is another target; it appears to be down to Coach Richt and Kiffybaby for James' signature. All three are listed as 4 star prospects.

Benedict (out of The Bolles School) is clearly a huge commit for this class. Back in June when he gave his word to CMR is when the Dawgs' '10 class really started to take shape. Initially there may have been concerns about Benedict's pass blocking, but with a senior QB in Chandler Carr under center this year it seems The Bolles School is passing more. In fact as of last week's game, Carr had 900 yards passing, 18 TDs and only 1 interception.

And as we know, if a true freshman is going to crack into Searels' rotation he's gonna have to be proficient at both pass and run blocking.

Next season we should again have good experience on the offensive line for the new QB. The question remains however, just how good these guys can be. Of course we'll once again add Sturdivant to the mix, plus redshirt freshmen Dallas Lee, Austin Long and Chris Burnette to the '10 signees. Tanner Strickland will be back from his shoulder surgery and other younger players like AJ Harmon will have more experience and tutelage to bring to the depth chart.

Hopefully the end result is something that makes the fans...and Searels smile.