With so much attention on the Georgia football left tackle position battle between Austin Blaske and Earnest Greene, it’s easy to overlook Amarius Mims.
Related: Austin Blaske, Earnest Greene and what happens next for Georgia football at offensive tackle
The junior offensive lineman isn’t significantly more experienced than either Blaske or Greene, with Mims having just two career starts to his name.
It just so happens those came in biggest games of the year for Georgia in 2022, as he started for Warren McClendon in both College Football Playoff games.
Now, he’s poised to take over for McClendon on an every-down basis.
“He’s just scratching the ceiling for his potential. He played a lot but he didn’t start every game, which he’ll do this year,” McClendon said. “He’ll get way better with the talent in practice and taking the one reps.”
It helps that Mims is the most physically imposing offensive lineman on Georgia’s roster, as he’s listed at 6-foot-7 and 330 pounds. McClendon bluntly points to Mims’ raw power as to his biggest asset.
Mims though has also taken big strides when it comes to his mental approach to the game.
“He’s gotten very mature with how he goes about things, just coming into practice, not really taking plays off and things like that,” offensive lineman Tate Ratledge said. “Just going out there and grinding every day and just really stepping into the shoes that he’s got to fill.”
McClendon started 37 consecutive games for Georgia prior to picking up an injury in the win over LSU. Mims, who saw first-team reps regularly throughout the season, played well in the wins over Ohio State and TCU.
With McClendon and Broderick Jones both off to the NFL, Mims will look to continue Georgia’s strong run of offensive tackle play. Georgia has consistently churned out NFL-capable offensive tackles throughout Kirby Smart’s tenure.
Mims is poised to be the next offensive tackle to come off the assembly line. But it wasn’t a guarantee he’d get to this point, as last spring the major talking point around Mims was the fact that entered the transfer portal.
The offensive tackle elected to remain at Georgia and the Cochran, Ga., native is now in a position to benefit from the decision to stick it out.
Georgia could possibly play Mims at either tackle spot, but the belief is that he’ll end up staying at the right tackle spot.
It’s clear though if Georgia is going to reach its ceiling in 2023, it will have to do so with Mims at one of the tackle spots.
“I think one of Coach (Stacy) Searels’ goals is to find a starting five and then find a backup group where there’s not much drop-off,” Ratledge said. “I think right now we do a lot where everybody gets a lot of reps, so there’s no telling. People are getting a lot of reps every practice.”
Tate Ratledge raves about development of Amarius Mims
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