ATHENS — Georgia junior offensive tackle Andrew Thomas knows this might be his last season with the Bulldogs.
But Thomas, projected by some as a preseason All-American and shoo-in preseason All-SEC pick, is more dialed in on the details of spring football.
“I’m just trying to be better than I was the previous year,” Thomas said following practice last Tuesday.
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The Bulldogs took part in the third of 15 spring football workouts on Saturday. Georgia will hold its annual G-Day game at 2 p.m. on April 20.
Thomas said new offensive coordinator James Coley has identified three areas the Bulldogs’ offense needs to improve this spring.
“We had a meeting (Monday), we talked about how we want to get better at our gap schemes, we want to get better at our third-and-7 passing and goal line-short yardage,” Thomas said.
Quarterback Jake Fromm had his share of struggles the first half of the 2018 season and again in the postseason when put into third-and-long situations.
The short-yardage issues peaked with a debacle against Florida last season that was well-documented.
The Bulldogs failed to score on six plays inside the Gators 1-yard line in an otherwise dominant 36-17 victory on the Jacksonville, Fla., road trip.
Thomas confided that Coley isn’t standing pat on Jim Chaney’s playbook.
“We’re changing up a couple of things playbook-wise,” Thomas said. “(But) it helps a lot because we don’t have to learn a totally new system. I think everybody will adjust well.”
The Bulldogs’ offensive line won’t be short on motivation coming off an embarrassing performance against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
A late touchdown made the 28-21 loss appear closer than it really was.
The Longhorns dominated the line of scrimmage and held the SEC’s top rush attack to 72 yards on 30 attempts.
“As an offensive line we understood we did’t play well and that wasn’t up to our standard,” Thomas said, “so it’s motivation for going into next year.”
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