re: 4-Star OT Anthony Bradford of Muskegon (Mich.) commits to LSU

quote:

---

My point isn’t about me. It’s about recruiting and Right Tackles.

---

He plays for a HS team that is a physical running team......he hasn’t been asked to pass protect much in his career, that’s where Cregg comes in.....

I trust this staffs evaluation of big ugly talent despite what some here think.

quote:

---

Are tackles interior linemen?

Also my main point was that this guy looks like pretty much everyone whose played RT for Les Miles. Meanwhile you keep saying Les recruited guards to play tackle.

---

If you had to be positive one time in your life, your head would explode

quote:

---

That sounds an awful lot like what routinely happened under our last coach. I think this kid is a good pickup, but it’s funny to see people criticize Les for recruiting natural guards to play tackle and then praise Orgeron for doing the same exact thing.

---

Not quite what we were seeing with Les. Or I should say not 100%. Bradford has the frame and length to be OT. Period. That's one of the issues with conversion. On the edge that matters, you have to keep those DL from getting into you, and when they have space on the edge it's not easy with the angles. Hence wingspan does matter.

The other issue is footwork, centered around being able to move the feet fast enough but keep your balance/leverage and seperation so that when you do move fast, you're not exposed to a secondary move. That's where Bradford has some weakness and is akin to a OG-to-OT conversion. BUT... it's simple development for an OT to keep playing OT.

What I see alot in this thread is the ASSUMPTION that the use of the words "road grader" means he's more of an OG than a OT. That's just a bad assumption. You can be extremely strong, and extremely strong in run blocking, and still be good in pass protection. One does not preclude the other, especially coming from a news article where "road grades" is cliche for "strong".

quote:

---

chances are he’s going to have to trim down a bit to play tackle.

---

If they want him at tackle, I'm sure they'll get him to do that.

The kid hasn't even signed with us yet and people are bitching about what position he will play on the line. I'm sure our OL coach, who comes from the NFL, knows what an NFL tackle should look like.

quote:

---

You're focused on defending Les.

---

I’m not defending Les at all. I think the criticism of Les’s OL recruiting strategy was fair and warranted. I just think it’s funny that some of the loudest critics of Les’s OL recruiting are now celebrating a commitment from a kid that fits the mold of a Les OT recruit.

quote:

---

Acknowledging he's got some work to do to be able to be a starting P5 OT, including footwork. But that still doesn't make him a converted OG.

---

Okay, so what makes Malone, or Westhersby or Collins as converted guard? What, in your mind, is the difference between this kid and any of the guards-turned-tackles during the Les Miles era?

In the end, I think the kid is a solid player and I hope he pans out as a tackle. If not, I think he could easily help us on the inside.

That's great news even though the Michs, Mich St, and Ohio and Ohio St and all will continue to come after him, but he appears to be solid to LSU.

But if he is not athletic enough for OT next to Thomas, then he should be the opposite guard to Thomas on the interior to form a devastating guard power blocking duo. I mean because they are still after Kenyon Green who if they do get, well, to me he should be the OT next to big Kardell Thomas imo.

quote:

---

Okay, so what makes Malone, or Westhersby or Collins as converted guard? What, in your mind, is the difference between this kid and any of the guards-turned-tackles during the Les Miles era?

---

Because all 3 played guard in high school, camped/evaluated in recruiting as OG, entered the program as OG, and practiced at LSU as OG. They were OGs up to the point we had a need (due to depth most of the time) and then converted them, at LSU. I don't know what's difficult about that. HS, recruited, practiced and played at OG = OG.

That doesn't mean it can't be done, a la Collins and Charles, successfully. But in both those successful cases we're talking some really special athleticism. Personally, I think the athleticism Charles has is far beyond Collins. The only reason he isn't a stud OT right now is... you guessed it... he hasn't had enough time at the position. Because he's converted. He will be, soon, very soon. But years at OT from HS on does help one develop as... an OT.

Fact of the matter is I griped about Grimes not recognizing Charles' potential at OT earlier. I'm of the belief that if you have a guy who can play either (with the natural talent/athleticism) to be either: he's an OT. It's not debatable- OTs are more valuable.

ETA: one way of putting it-
All OTs can be guards, but not all guards can be OTs.
Richt recruited/recruits along those lines or with that mentality. For years they always seemed to have a lifelong OT playing OG, not the other way around. It works better from a development and depth perspective. Yeah, not a 100% accurate rule-of-thumb, but that does seem to work better.

They have a real OLine coah now for the first time I can say in awhile. I kept hoping that they would hire Mawae, but Cregg is just as good, he'll turn them into NFL ready Olineman.

I hear ya, brah

quote:

---

"LSU, they project me at tackle," Bradford said, "because Kardell Thomas is coming in same class and we would be playing together and we would be a dominant right side. They want to run the ball and play hard nosed football and Kardell is a beast. I can't want to play next to him. I think he is a similar player to me."

---

Arent they both projected at tackle?