With the mounting injuries at OL, the Dawgs experimented with athletic man-child Kiante Tripp at offensive tackle today according to David Ching of the Columbus-Ledger. Chip Towers of the AJC also has the story (also updated!).
(Update: It's not an experiment according to Coach Richt who literally gushes with praise for Tripp. Apparently, they had been wooing him over to the OL for a while. They just needed him to want to play OT, and he's on board completely for the sound of things. -- per Josh Kendall's report)
Hell, I'd start him simply on the basis of that bad ass red suit. But that's just me. Image: AJC from signing day 2006.
If memory serves, Scott Kennedy of Scout.com had Tripp rated much higher as an OT than a DE. So the move is interesting from a recruitnik standpoint.
I hate to sound like a certain sunshine pumper who's always talking about the future. BUT, imagine a 2009 OL of...
- OT - Trinton Sturdivant (Jr),
OG - Clint Boling (Jr)
C - Ben Jones (So.)
OG - Chris Davis (Jr.)
OT - Kiante Tripp (Jr.)
From David Ching's Blog:
"[Tripp] didn't do everything just right, but it's just amazing to see him move and how he can even make a mistake and then be athlete enough to change direction and run a guy by the quarterback," said Richt. "It's certainly not textbook but it's kinda hard to teach and coach that athleticism, so I think it's gonna be a great move for us."This is a developing story.
PWD
4 comments:
Well, I'd rather be focusing on the bad aspects of this team now than how we're a shoe-in for this or that. I feel better knowing that we might be surprised with the offensive line come September 1st, rather than "hell yeah, I knew this was a mess from the start." And, if I remember correctly, everyone felt a similar concern towards Shockley coming in against Boise State in 2005.
Andy - While I agree that there were concerns with DJ prior to 2005, I truly believe (for at least the first 2-4 games) we're going to really struggle at OL.
The move of Tripp now is very telling of both injury concerns as well as the status of guys like Vince Vance.
I love that we've got a larger stable to pull from - and that will help in late 2007 and 2008 - but it's going to be interesting to watch this play out.
"I hate to sound like a certain sunshine pumper who's always talking about the future."
Nothing wrong with that, imo. Keep up the good work; there's plenty of mama's boys fretters out there already. My take? It just shows the coaches want to put the best players out there, and they are willing to depart from the script they were handed to do it.
Fantastic suits!!!
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