ATHENS — Georgia hopes Tate Ratledge can learn a few new tricks this spring. Even if he recognizes he’s no longer one of the younger and more limber members of the Georgia offensive line room.
“I feel kind of old,” Ratledge said. “Kind of just seeing how freshmen classes have grown over the years and being here for so long and seeing them, just knowing that I was that guy so long ago, it’s definitely kind of weird sometimes.”
He’s accomplished so much in his Georgia career, whether it be earning All-American honors or winning two national championships.
But entering his fifth season, Georgia hopes Ratledge can wear some of the hats previously won by Sedrick Van Pran-Granger.
On a small scale, that includes learning how to snap.
“It made me have a lot more respect for what Sed did,” Ratledge said. “I called him and I told him, I was like, ‘I have a newfound respect for what you did all last year.’”
On a larger scale, that means filling the leadership role that was long occupied by Van Pran-Granger. The latter was a two-time team captain at Georgia.
Ratledge didn’t have to do any of this. But when he opted to come back for another year, this is what he wanted to sign up for.
“I think there was a bad taste in our mouth after last year,” Ratledge said. “Of course there’s things I want to accomplish by myself and I want to see this team accomplish. Those things had a big reason why I came back.”
The bad taste Ratledge is referencing would be the loss to Alabama. For all Ratledge has done in his time at Georgia, he has not beaten the Crimson Tide. Ratledge missed the 2022 National Championship Game with a foot injury.
Ratledge suffered that injury in a season-opening game against Clemson in the 2021 season. It was first career start.
When he takes the field against Clemson this time around, he’ll do so at the same right guard position. But he’ll do so in a very different role for the Bulldogs.
“Just the leadership of the offensive line room and the team, I’m trying to step into some of those roles, try to pick up where he left of,” Ratledge said. “It’s a great leader that left so it’s hard to replace. I think we have a couple guys doing a really good job stepping up and trying to take that role over.”
Ratledge isn’t the only veteran in the room, as Xavier Truss also announced that he would be back at Georgia for the 2024 season. While Truss bounced between left guard and right tackle last season, he seems to be Georgia’s first option at right tackle.
Ratledge has been a rock at right guard for the Bulldogs. Should he start the season opener against Clemson, it will be the fourth straight year that Ratledge has opened as the team’s starting right guard.
With Van Pran-Granger moving on, this will be the first season Ratledge is not playing next to him. Instead, it will be Jared Wilson as Georgia’s starting center.
There’s a lot of confidence in Wilson but having Ratledge next to him should help tremendously as a first-time starter.
“He’s a freak athlete. He’s really done a good job of starting to take control up front, being loud with his Mike calls and stuff like that,” Ratledge said. “He’s really done a good job of stepping into that role.”
As for the role Ratledge will have for the Georgia offensive line this season, there’s an equal amount of confidence in the fifth-year offensive lineman.
Be it from his quarterback Carson Beck, who called Ratledge his best friend on the team, or Van Pran-Granger.
“The biggest thing I told Tate is to be himself,” Van Pran-Granger said. “The best thing he can do for himself is continue to be the person he is. He’s a great leader by example. He doesn’t need to be noticed, that’s the biggest thing. It’s really just about understanding that you’re going to be a guy who leads by example, and if you say things here and there, guys will respect it, but you’re not going to always be the vocal guy.”
Ratledge was asked about the possibility of winning the Joe Moore Award in his final season. The award is given annually to the best offensive line. For all he and his fellow offensive linemen have accomplished in recent years, that award has proven elusive.
Winning it firmly falls into the list of things Ratledge wants to accomplish. And unlike the Riminginton Award or Outland Trophy, it’s an award based on the performance on the entire offensive line.
If Georgia is going to win that — along with an all-important national championship — it’s going to need Ratledge and all his accrued experience to lead them there.
