Isaiah Wynn has solid start at tackle for Georgia

ATHENS -- When Georgia sophomore offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn has a question, he's going to ask.

So going into his first start as a college left tackle, that's what he did.

"He's the type of kid that if he has a question, he's going to ask," senior tackle John Theus said. "He had a whole lot of questions throughout the week and stuff."

"I'm pretty sure John and Kolton (Houston) were kind of annoyed with me," Wynn said. "It actually helped me because there's a lot of things that change when you're at tackle."

Wynn's first snap Saturday was his first as a tackle since high school. Not only was it not something Wynn had discussed with Georgia during recruiting, it wasn't even something had done -- outside of a few one-on-one drills during summer camp -- until the Monday before the game.

Despite the inexperience, Wynn graded out well on film after the game.

"Isaiah did awesome for his first game," Theus said. "He's a great athlete, got a lot of natural ability. He's not the tallest guy, but he's got pretty long, long arms, so I think he did a really good job. Obviously, he has some stuff to work on, and the more he plays there, the more comfortable he will get."

That being said, he did that against a Kentucky defense that is ranked No. 102 in the country in sacks and has just one player, Josh Forrest, with more than two sacks.

While Auburn doesn't rank any better overall, most of that is without star defensive end Carl Lawson.

Lawson suffered a hip injury in the season opener against Louisville that required him to miss six games. During that span, Auburn gave up nearly 31 points per game and needed overtime to beat FCS team Jacksonville State.

Although Lawson has yet to record a sack in the two games since he has returned, the impact already has been seen for the Auburn defense. In those two games, it held Mississippi, the No. 11 scoring offense in the nation, with more than 40 points per game, to 27 points and held Texas A&M to just 10 points.

"I think his presence is being felt already," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said of Lawson. "I know it takes more than one guy to play defense for sure, but he's a guy that is very dynamic as a pass rusher and run-stuffer and everything else that you'd want in a guy playing that position."

And Lawson, all 6-foot-2 and 257 pounds of him, will be mostly Wynn's problem. While defensive coordinator Will Muschamp does move his line around some, for the most part, Lawson will be lined up over left tackle.

"He presents a big challenge for me being that this is only going to be my second week," Wynn said. "I'm just looking forward to stepping forward to the challenge and helping my team win."

Wynn noted that the biggest difficulty of playing against a player like Lawson is that, unlike an average college defensive lineman that either relies on the bull rush or finesse moves, Lawson showcases a unique combination of speed and power.

"He's a great player, good with speed and power, and I feel like he's going to come ready to play," Wynn said. "A guy can be really fast on you and then instantly go to power. At tackle, it's kind of hard to kick back and settle down as opposed to being at guard when you can immediately get your hands on him and stop the penetration right then and there. I'm pretty sure we're going to work a lot on that in practice."

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Isaiah Wynn has solid start at tackle for Georgia ."