LLT
08-03-2012, 05:26 AM
August 3, 2012 1:13 am
By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Reality finally caught up with long-running speculation when, after six years playing offensive tackle amid opinions he'd make the perfect offensive guard, Willie Colon finds himself at left guard in training camp.
And he's happy about it, which might surprise those who saw him bristle at the mere mention in previous years that he would make a better guard than tackle. Ben Roethlisberger and former coordinator Bruce Arians even resorted to joking about it.
They would torture Colon, telling him "You're going to play guard; you're going to play guard."
"He never wanted to do it," Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers did not move him until this spring simply because they had more guards than tackles. They needed him at right tackle, where, at 6 feet 3, he was undersized but more than held his own in three seasons as a starter before injuries wiped out all but one game of the past two seasons.
But, as new coordinator Todd Haley noted the other day, Colon was born to play guard and, feeling they have enough tackles with the addition of second-round pick Mike Adams and the success of Marcus Gilbert last year, the coaching staff switched him. They did so long before they took the field in the spring, giving Colon enough time to make the transition
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/guard-duty-647402/#ixzz22TfWdLgb
By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Reality finally caught up with long-running speculation when, after six years playing offensive tackle amid opinions he'd make the perfect offensive guard, Willie Colon finds himself at left guard in training camp.
And he's happy about it, which might surprise those who saw him bristle at the mere mention in previous years that he would make a better guard than tackle. Ben Roethlisberger and former coordinator Bruce Arians even resorted to joking about it.
They would torture Colon, telling him "You're going to play guard; you're going to play guard."
"He never wanted to do it," Roethlisberger said.
The Steelers did not move him until this spring simply because they had more guards than tackles. They needed him at right tackle, where, at 6 feet 3, he was undersized but more than held his own in three seasons as a starter before injuries wiped out all but one game of the past two seasons.
But, as new coordinator Todd Haley noted the other day, Colon was born to play guard and, feeling they have enough tackles with the addition of second-round pick Mike Adams and the success of Marcus Gilbert last year, the coaching staff switched him. They did so long before they took the field in the spring, giving Colon enough time to make the transition
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/guard-duty-647402/#ixzz22TfWdLgb