WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University football team is nearly two weeks into its preseason camp, working toward the season opener against Marist on September 4 at Cooper Field. As the 2021 season quickly approaches, GUHoyas.com will take an in-depth look at each of the team's position groups, with this edition featuring the offensive line.
 
"I'm very excited about this group of offensive linemen," said Georgetown Assistant Coach Alex Kolt. "We've recruited a lot of talented football players at this position over the last few years, and they've done a great job of investing in their development. The theme of this preseason camp in the offensive line room has been competition, from our freshmen to our fifth-year seniors, as everybody is competing to try and get on the field and the competition has been fierce."
 
The Hoyas bring back a lot of starting experience to the front five, including graduate student Neal Azar, a recently named team captain, and senior TJ Thomas who both started all 11 games in 2019. Additionally, graduate student Daniel Horne and senior Josh Stevens combined to appear in 19 games with 10 starts two years ago. Overall, the group has started a total of 47 games over the past two seasons.
 
The Blue & Gray will also return a lot of valuable veteran leadership and experience to the unit, led by senior Mac Hollensteiner who was a regular on the offensive line in 2019, making nine appearances. Juniors Sam Telesa, Spencer Harris, Talati Polamalu and Stanford Maison combined to appear in 18 games as freshmen on the offensive line and will look to increase their roles this season.
 
"We've got a strong group of seniors and guys who have come back for a fifth year as Daniel Horne, Neal Azar, Mac Hollensteiner, Josh Stevens, and TJ Thomas, who have all started games over their careers. Our junior class has done a great job of getting prepared physically over the last 18 months and are all competing for added playing time."
 
The offensive line will feature a lot of depth this fall as the Hoyas have eight linemen who will be looking to make an impact in their first collegiate season. Brian Balestra, Jack Mills, Max Norton, Richie Pinomi and Luke Popma will all fight to see the field as sophomores, while Greg Johnson, Kaysen Mahuka-Kaawa and Braxton Turner will also look to crack the lineup as freshmen.
 
"As experienced as this group is, with six players who have started games or played extensively, we've got a lot of young players with eight freshmen and sophomores. We are really excited about all these young players, and they will push our more experienced guys to get on the field early in their careers."
 
The Hoyas open the 2021 season on September 4 when the Blue & Gray welcomes Marist to Cooper Field. Georgetown will play five home games this fall, including three Patriot League matchups and a nonconference tilt against Harvard (September 18). The squad will also travel to Columbia on September 25, looking to keep the Lou Little Trophy after an exciting 24-10 victory in 2019.