Isaiah Wynn not focused on what position he plays on Georgia offensive line

ATHENS -- When Georgia offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn arrived at Georgia two summers ago, he was viewed by offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and offensive line coach Will Friend as a guard.

Just more than six months later, new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and offensive line coach Rob Sale viewed him as the potential center of the future. That experiment ended, and Wynn was moved back to guard. But by the end of last season, Sale and Schottenheimer viewed him as the left tackle of the future, even displacing long-tenured starters John Theus and Kolton Houston from their positions at left and right tackle.

In dealing with his third combination of offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in three years in Jim Chaney and Sam Pittman, Wynn is once again moving back to guard.

To say that Wynn has dealt with some inconsistency during his career at Georgia is definitely an understatement.

"Like I've said plenty of times before, I don't mind wherever I'm at as long as I'm helping contribute to the team," Wynn said. "I really don't feel like I fit best at any position. I got a feel for tackle last season and guard last season, too, so right now I feel like I'm still trying to get the feel for whatever position."

The biggest adjustment for Wynn from going back to the interior line will be getting used to working against the bigger interior defensive lineman.

"Dealing with the edge, you've kind of got the speedy guys, but going back inside, you've kind of got the big dudes," Wynn said.

Of course, that won't be the only difficulty that Wynn deals with this spring -- that would be too easy.

New Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has said he wants to take advantage of Wynn's history of versatility and use him at all five offensive line positions to help generate depth for the unit.

"Isaiah is a guy who's got to be able to play all five positions," Smart said. "He's going to start off at guard. There are some in-depth conversations there. What we basically do is identify a guy -- 'Is he a tackle only, is he a guard/center only, or can he go both ways and do both?' Throughout the spring, we're going to work different groupings there."

The benefit of having a player like Wynn being able to play all five offensive line positions is that it allows the backups to play whatever position they're best suited for in case of an injury, regardless of who the player is that gets hurt.

While Georgia stayed relatively healthy on the offensive line last season, there is always a high risk for injury in the trenches.

"I think it's important to cross train because we cannot anticipate injuries, and they ultimately will happen in the offensive line and the front," Smart said. "We've got to be ready and more prepared to handle those situations as they come up. But I'll say this, Coach Pittman has done a really good job in year's past, us playing him both at Tennessee and at Arkansas, of when somebody goes down having another guy ready and training those guys across the board."

So far through two practices, Wynn hasn't taken any snaps at center or tackle. But he did work on snapping the ball before spring started just to get a head start.

While it's not easy to jump between three positions while learning the terminology of a new coaching staff, Wynn says he doesn't mind taking on the challenge.

"I think that it's good because I feel like our whole OL, we all adjust good so even if somebody goes down it's always good to have a backup who can play that position too," Wynn said. "I don't think there's any downside to playing all the positions or being versatile. I'm enjoying it."

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Isaiah Wynn not focused on what position he plays on Georgia offensive line ."