SEC Football: Ranking The League's Offensive Lines

SB Nation’s SEC blogs are ranking each major section of each football team via the SEC Power Poll. The results will be published over at For Whom The Cowbell Tolls. Below are A Sea of Blue’s rankings for the offensive lines. #10-13 are pretty fluid in my mind, but I definitely think UT deserves to be last. If for nothing else than to see the Rocky Top Talk people lose their minds in the comments section of the final poll. Or here. Whatever.

1. Auburn. Returns four starters from last year’s best SEC OL. Will need to replace Greg Robinson with Avery Young, but he started several games last season. Center Reese Dismukes will probably end the season All-SEC.

2. LSU. Four returning starters helmed by NFL early rounder La’el Collins.

3. Texas A&M. Future NFL first round pick OT Cedric Ogbuehi returns along with three other starters.

4. South Carolina. Returns four starters, and at least three of whom will eventually be drafted. Is this unit Spurrier’s best during his USC tenure?

5. Mizzou. Returns three seasoned starters with possibly the leagues best center Evan Boehem. Pinkel usually has good OLs barring injuries, and I think that continues.

6. Mississippi State. Lost OG Gabe Jackson but return everyone else. Miss. State also have depth indicative of the three or four players competing for Jackson’s vacant position and the other guard spot. I could see Miss. State having a top five SEC OL by the end of the season.

7. Alabama. Center Ryan Kelly and OT Austin Shepherd are good. The rest of the OL will probably be comprised of highly regarded recruits, but largely untested relative to teams I’ve ranked #1-6. OT Cam Robinson may start as a freshman - potentially a scary scenario for QB Jacob Coker (though Robinson will be probably be outstanding after he gets some experience). OL coach Mario Cristobal will get the most out of this squad, but it appears patchwork this preseason relative to the usual ‘Bama OLs.

8. Ole Miss. Very good starting five, but no depth outside of incoming freshmen. Placing them in the middle but if they stay healthy could very well finish the season ranked much higher.

9. Arkansas. All the youth that played last year return with an extra year of seasoning. I also will trust Bret Bielema and OL coach Sam Pittman when it comes to OL recruiting and development. Knocked a few points with the graduation of All-SEC center Swanson. If UNLV transfer Cameron Jefferson pans out this unit could end the season ranked much higher.

10. Florida. Potentially two great OTs in Humphries and Green. Knocked down my list due to questions in the interior and Humphries’ injury recovery. They are coached by Mike Summers who is one of the best OL coaches in the business. He developed unheralded recruits at Kentucky into cohesive units and a few NFL players. Summers will have even more talent at his disposal at UF.

11. Vanderbilt. Returns four seasoned starters. With the loss of Jordan Matthews, Austyn Carter-Samuels, and Wesley Tate the OL may be the strength of Vandy’s offense.

12. Kentucky. Returns four starters. Darrian Miller and Jordan Swindle both poised for breakout years at OT. Last year they were both put on an island quite a bit to shore up the interior OL, and they performed fairly well given the circumstances. Last season’s performance was largely due to: poor quarterback play, players learning new positions, inexperience, and the transition to a zone blocking scheme. If the interior OL has improved this unit should be much improved. The issue of quality depth will persist for this season though.

13. Georgia. Lost three starters and will need the new guys to step up. David Andrews is very good, but there are a lot of questions with regards to the rest. If they step up then I could easily see UGA much higher in the rankings.

14. Tennessee. Lost all five starters and will probably be banking on a JUCO OT and a freshman OT being ready to start from opening kickoff. Too many unknowns to rank elsewhere.