Sizing up Georgia football's rather large offensive line haul in 2024 recruiting class

In an eight-day span beginning at the start of a long Fourth of July weekend, four offensive linemen from four different states added size and girth to Georgia’s offensive lines to come. That brings the total in the Bulldogs’ No. 1 ranked 2024 recruiting class to six offensive linemen. Notably five of them have jumped aboard since quarterback Dylan Raiola, the nation’s No. 1 ranked recruit, committed to Georgia in mid-May. The class—if they go through and sign—would give Georgia two of its top three tallest offensive line recruits since Kirby Smart became coach and a third would be tied for fourth tallest. They have mass as well, with the two heaviest under Smart in 6-foot-6 ½ 365-pound Daniel Calhoun from Walton High in Marietta and 6-8, 360-pound Nyier Daniels from Oradell, N.J., and five of the top 13 in all. The average for the six, according to heights and weights listed by 247Sports, is 6-foot-6 1/2 and 342 pounds. Size and effort:How a former NFL coach helped Broderick Jones become next Georgia football OT to hit NFL So four-star Michael Uini—listed at a mammoth 6-7 and 335 pounds himself—would check in weighing less than three others in the group. “That’s crazy,” said Tony Johnson, head coach at Copperas Cove High in central Texas where Uini plays. The other three offensive line commitments for 2024 are four-star Marques Easley, a 6-5 1/2 , 335-pounder from Kankakee, Ill., and two three-stars, Marcus Harrison, 6-7 ½ and 336 from Hamburg, N.Y. and Malachi Toliver, 6-5 ½ and 320 pounds from Cartersville. “I was already thinking about Georgia and then they got the No. 1 recruit in the country in Raiola, and I knew it was just going to pile on,” Easley told his hometown Daily Journal Saturday after announcing his commitment. “I didn’t want to wait and they might have to turn me down.” Johnson installed a spread offense from a run-oriented Wing-T. “When I got here, the thing that intrigued me about Michael was his length,” said Johnson, who was on the support staff at TCU and Texas A&M from 1998-2002. “He’s got tremendous length, long arms, long legs. And he bends, he’s athletic. He played basketball. He could get up and down. He’s a very well put together kid.” When Johnson was hired before last season, he called Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire, who he worked with at Cedar Hill High. He sent him film and McGuire offered him that night. It wasn’t his junior season so much but what happened after that had coaches viewing Uini as a coveted prospect. That included Georgia offensive line coach Stacy Searels, who is entering his second season in his return to Athens. The Bulldogs won out over Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Texas and Alabama for Uini. “His winter and spring, in the 30 years I’ve been coaching, I’ve never seen somebody transform from a lineman standpoint that fast,” Johnson said. Georgia has signed eight five-star offensive lineman in Kirby Smart’s first eight classes including Monroe Freeling in the 2023 class. There are no five-stars now in the 2024 class, but four players are rated four-stars led by Calhoun from Walton High in Marietta. “His size is already a given, but his athleticism allows him to flex from offensive tackle across any position where he is needed to contribute,” said Josh Richardson, a former Louisville offensive lineman who works with Calhoun as owner/CEO of Velocity Football Academy in Canton. No. 1 QB:How Georgia football landing 2024 Dylan Raiola impacts Bulldogs program “Not only can he run zone at a high level of efficiency, he has the That assemblage was led by five-star Broderick Jones and two four-stars who are currently starters—guard Tate Ratledge and center Sedrick Van-Pran Granger. That class also included possible starter Austin Blaske—a three-star—and three-star Devin Willock, who was part of the rotation last season. Willock tragically died Jan. 15 in a crash that also killed recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy. The tallest offensive lineman to sign under Smart so far is Jacob Hood (6-8, 342) in 2022. He transferred to Nebraska after one season. The heaviest players up until now were Justin Shaffer (356), Isaiah Wilson (350) and Trey Hill (346). All were starters and NFL draft picks. Georgia’s 2023 class also includes 6-7, 290-pound Bo Hughley. All five of the offensive line signees were listed at 6-5 or taller. Coach Kirby Smart said Freeling and Hughley “both have top ten wing spans of kids we've recruited here, and we've got some pretty long guys that have played here in the last seven, eight years. …You know, it's one of the hardest positions to play right away, so it's not like they're going to walk in here and just take over, but they've got kind of the mold you want in terms of length and athleticism and some guys that can go play with them.” Uini sounds like he fits a similar mold, according to Johnson. He will need to work on fundamentals as he gets to the next level. “Nothing surprises me,” he said, “but I don’t look for him to play and be a contributor next year, but if he does what he did this year under that program, the sky’s the limit.”