Wynn serves as anchor of UGA’s offensive line
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia lost only five starters off last season’s football team, but three of the departures were offensive linemen.
After going through spring practice and preseason camp, Bulldogs senior running back Nick Chubb doesn’t see that as any kind of problem whatsoever entering Saturday night’s opener against Appalachian State inside Sanford Stadium.
“They’re on the same page, and they’re communicating way better,” Chubb said earlier this week in a news conference. “It’s a younger group, but Isaiah gets them in the right direction.”
In other words, “Never fear, Isaiah Wynn is still here.”
At 6-foot-2 and 302 pounds, Wynn is now among the smaller members of Georgia’s offensive line, but to coaches and teammates, what he provides is immeasurable. He has played in 37 games for the Bulldogs since signing in 2014 as a fourstar prospect out of Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Wynn enters his senior season having made 26 career starts, and he has been entrenched at left tackle since the start of spring after serving at left guard a year ago on an 8-5 team that capped Kirby Smart’s maiden voyage as head coach with a 31-23 defeat of TCU in the Liberty Bowl.
“The biggest thing is his leadership,” Smart said this week. “He is the one guy who is not afraid to demand and confront guys on the offensive line when things aren’t going well. He will confront them.
He practices really hard. He is extremely physical.
“He has been kind of the bell cow of that group, and we certainly expect him to play that way. He has done it in his career here.
He’s always played with the physical toughness you need to play with. He’s always done that.”
Wynn missed several days of preseason camp with an undisclosed illness. Smart said the Bulldogs didn’t unravel up front with him out but that Wynn’s absence was certainly noticeable.
The Bulldogs could be much bigger up front this season with the potential — Georgia has not released a depth chart — of 6-5, 338-pound freshman Andrew Thomas starting at right tackle and 6-4, 341-pound redshirt freshman Solomon Kindley starting at right guard.
“I was pretty small last year at guard,” Wynn said, smiling. “We have a lot more anchor this year at the guard position. I’m not saying the guys inside aren’t athletic, but I think we have some tackles who are really able to kick out in space.”
Georgia will be much larger up front than Appalachian State’s defensive line, but a size advantage did not benefit Tennessee in last year’s season opener against the Mountaineers. Volunteers tailbacks Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara combined for 131 rushing yards, with neither quite averaging 4 yards per carry.
Chubb and Sony Michel hope to be more productive as a tandem Saturday night, but that all starts up front, and everything up front starts with Wynn.
“Regardless of his athleticism, his football knowledge, his football IQ and what he can do on the field, I think the biggest thing he offers is that he’s the leader,” Bulldogs senior tight end Jeb Blazevich said. “He’s the anchor of the offensive line. Guys respect him. We look up to him, and we know that if he says to go a certain way, we’ll go that way.
“His leading in meetings and on the field is his most valuable thing.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.
“Regardless of his athleticism, his football knowledge, his football IQ and what he can do on the field, I think the biggest thing he offers is that he’s the leader.”
– JEB BLAZEVICH