Kirby Smart Is Excited About the Future Of His Offensive Line

The SEC is still a conference that is won or lost in the trenches. If you want to be a championship contender, you need effective play along your offensive and defensive lines.

Georgia has produced several quality offensive fronts in Kirby Smart's five seasons in Athens. The 2020 group took an expected step back compared to 2019, but the Bulldogs head coach is excited about what the future holds with that unit.

The reason? Smart and company have continued to recruit well.

The 2021 offensive line class includes four new members, three of whom sit in the top 100 prospects, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Here are those four guys:

Smart recently commented on the importance of having quality play up front.

“It’s a line-of-scrimmage league. You say that more and more,” Smart said, via UGASports.com. “It's a skill player league, but when you don’t have an opportunity to throw to those skilled players, Mac Jones, JT Daniels, those guys wouldn’t be standing upright if they didn’t have a great offensive line in front of them.”

The four freshmen are certainly going to add to the depth, and it's possible a talent such as Mims can get on the field as a first-year player. Combine that with returning players and last year's impressive haul, and the Bulldogs remain in position to protect Daniels.

Now it's a matter of getting things right with other aspects of the offense and making another appearance in the College Football Playoff. Year 6 is a good time for Smart's squad to make its next move.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.