Georgia's offensive and defensive lines have been going at it this preseason and Kirby Smart has seen a lot of positives.
Presason practice can often be a delicate balance between players challenging each other on the football field while also being as safe as possible. Getting better is the goal, but doing so while preventing injury is key. That can be tough when it comes to the friendly competitions between the offensive and defensive lines, but Kirby Smart appears proud of how his big men have handled it in his 10th preseason at Georgia
“Both groups respect each other and go about it the right way,” Smart said. “I think that’s the tone that each O-line and D-line coaches — those guys in those rooms, we have to protect each other in there, but we’ve also got to make each other better. That’s a fine line between how you play the game from a safety standpoint and a violence standpoint to getting better versus taking care of each other. And both groups have done a really good job to be in camp of challenging each other.”
Improvement is certainly necessary for both units. Georgia’s offensive line struggled in 2025, both to play well and to stay healthy. The Bulldogs had three guys who started the season opener miss at least two games. It had at least six of its top eight offensive linemen battle some sort of significant ailment.
Georgia also had its worst rushing season of the Smart era, ranking No. 11 in the SEC at just 4.06 yards per carry. As DawgsHQ has noted on numerous occassions, the first-quarter rush numbers are even worse as the Bulldogs ranked 3.11 yards per carry in the first 15 minutes of games.
The defensive line was certainly better but had it’s own injury issues, too. Christen Miller, Xzavier McLeod, Jordan Hall, and Warren Brinson all missed time with injury. Hall barely played in 2025 due to stress fractures in each tibia.
When it comes to yards per carry, Georgia held teams to 3.71 yards. That’s good for third worse in the Smart era but it was better than the year prior when the Bulldogs surrended 3.77 yards per carry. Only the 2018 season was worse. Prior to the 2023 season, Georgia had led the SEC in run defense (YPC) for four straight seasons.
A common statement this time of year is, “they’re ready to hit somebody else.” If you’ve heard a version of that once, you’ve heard it hundreds of times. It’s borderline cliche because it’s true. It might be most common among the offensive and defensive lines due to the amount of time those units spend together. Smart believes this Georgia team has handled that dynamic well, too.
“I think any physical camp, training camp, those guys get to be closer than anybody else because they’re constantly on top of each other, hitting each other, and play in, play out, challenging each other whether it’s pass rush or running the ball, or conversional pass play-action,” Smart said. “They get after each other a lot.”
Category: General Sports
