At 6-foot-6 and 335 pounds, Georgia redshirt junior offensive lineman Ben Cleveland is quite the monstrosity to handle.
“Ben is massive,” Bulldogs junior defensive end Justin Young, who is 6-4 and 275 pounds, said this week in a news conference. “Once he gets his hands on you, it’s basically over with.”
Cleveland entered last season entrenched as the starting right guard, a position he held for the first four games. During that fourth game, a 43-29 triumph at Missouri, he fractured his left fibula (calf bone) and was sidelined until mid-November.
His return to the offensive line consisted of just two snaps in the 27-10 victory over Auburn, with playing shield on the punt team occupying the rest of Cleveland’s season. Cleveland explained that being a shield is more a matter of taking up space than having to move defenders, and he prefers looking at the pleasant side of last year’s experience.
“Me being out allowed us to grow more depth,” Cleveland said this week. “That’s only going to help us in the long run.”