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Published Dec 5, 2023
LSU Football Top 10: No. 7 Garrett Dellinger
Luke Hubbard  •  Death Valley Insider
Analyst
Twitter
@clukehubbard

While Will Campbell and Emery Jones get a lot of the credit when it comes to the success of the Tigers offensive line, Garrett Dellinger was quietly one of, if not the best player on this unit.

Last season, Dellinger ranked 29th on the Tigers offense with a 60.1 offensive grade and was 47th on the team in run blocking, but he completely flipped the script and was one of the best and most efficient players on this offense.

In 12 games, Dellinger played 723 snaps, which was second on the team to Will Campbell's 731 snaps. 442 of his snaps came in pass protection, where he earned a team-high 83.0 grade. The other 281 snaps came as a run blocker, earning a 67.2 grade.

While he wasn't amazing in the run game by any means, his grade was brought down by three sub 55 performances. If you removed those three games against Florida State, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, Dellinger's run block grades varied from a 59 all the way up to an 83.9.

Now, let's talk about his pass blocking because this is where he really separated himself and earned him a place on this list.

Dellinger's 83.0 pass block grade was first on the team and was nearly two points higher than the next closest lineman. In the first four games of the season, Dellinger didn't allow a single sack while giving up four pressures, two hurries and one quarterback hit. I'd say that's pretty dang good.

Dellinger probably had his worst game against Ole Miss, allowing one sack and two pressures, but after that, the Tigers left guard didn't give up another sack all season.

Dellinger would finish the season allowing one sack, two quarterback hits, 10 hurries and 13 pressures with a 98.3 efficiency rating.

Dellinger may not get as much love as Campbell and Jones, but he was right up there with the two tackles in terms of production and played a huge role in making this offense go.

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