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Meet our New? Starting Offensive Left Tackle? Mr. George Fant

In true Seahawk fashion - he has never played as an Offensive Lineman before - However he has excellent basketball experience:

http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/football/article/Offensive-line-Seahawks-training-camp-9125239.php


>>>>>>RENTON -- All offseason long, Seahawks coaches reiterated the importance of deciding upon the five starters on the offensive line as soon as possible in order to gel in time for the start of the regular season.

But after having the same five work with the first team for the first five training-camp practices at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, Seattle shuffled things around in a big way on Friday. J'Marcus Webb, who signed a two-year, $6 million deal with the team as a free agent in March and had handled nearly all the starters' snaps at right tackle, was relegated to second-and even third-string duties at times.

In his place, the team sometimes used youngsters like second-year pro Terry Poole and rookie Rees Odhiambo, but the most interesting combination came when they moved Garry Gilliam back to right tackle -- the position he started for every game in 2015 -- and elevated undrafted rookie George Fant to first-team left tackle.

After practice, the 24-year-old Fant told reporters he didn't get any advance notice from offensive line/assistant head coach Tom Cable that he would be taking first-team snaps.

"(Cable) just wanted to look around and see what was going on," Fant said. "I didn't know really what was going on, but I'm not going to turn down a situation like that."

Fant spent much of Friday's practice alternating between the first-and second-team offense. And while it's still probably too early to pencil Fant onto the 53-man regular-season roster -- let alone the starting lineup -- the former basketball at Western Kentucky seems poised for a rapid rise on the gridiron. That's surprising given the fact that the first time he lines up against an opponent in the preseason will be the first time Fant has played a game on the offensive line.

Ever. In his life. Period.

But that's no big deal, Fant said, because he's been at this a couple of months now.

"They're treating me like I'm a regular rookie, like I've been playing football my whole life," Fant said. "Early I'm sure there were some things where they were like, 'He's still learning.' But now that I know those things they expect me to know it and they expect me to do it. I expect that from myself as well."

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 296-pounds (though he put himself around 305), Fant played the first organized football since the eighth grade last year at Western Kentucky after four years on the Hilltoppers' basketball team.

After considering offers to play professional basketball following his last season of hoops in 2014-15, Fant made the decision to try football for the first time since middle school. He spent time at tight end and defensive tackle during his lone college season, before beginning to train as an offensive lineman. After going undrafted in May, he signed with Seattle.

"I just felt like this was the best situation," Fant said on Friday. "Coach Cable, his resume speaks for itself. It was the right choice for me, and I'm happy to be here. I think it's a great situation for me."

Seattle's development of Gilliam, who moved from tight end to the offensive line ahead of his senior season at Penn State in 2013, was one of the reasons Fant chose the Seahawks. Since he arrived, Gilliam has become a sort of mentor.

"Garry's been great," Fant said. "Not a lot of people would do what he's doing for me. Day one when I came in, he was right there for me, right there helping me. Even now, if I do something (wrong), he'll pull me to the side and show me the correct way to do it."

The Seahawks surely want to settle on their starting five as soon as possible, but it seems like Webb's underwhelming start to training camp after missing much of the offseason with a calf strain has Seattle looking at other options. On Thursday, Cable called Webb "a guy that looks like he didn't do hardly anything in the spring."<<<<<<<<<<

Gilliam returned to where he'll be ( starting LT) something tells me Webb is skating on thin ice, the Evans signing looks to be a direct move based on that ( expect Evans to be the starting RG with the rookie sliding over to RT. Seattle wants him there and the guy despite his fights has impressed the coaches. Besides it isn't like they haven't had a nasty RT before... Big Russian Giacomini was a "favorite" of that coaches).

All guesses are as good as any at this point, but I see it more like this up to this point;

LT - Gilliam (pretty certain)
LG - Glowinski (locked)
C - Britt, Hunt, Lewis (competition)
RG - Ifedi (locked)
RT - Odhiambo, Britt

Britt will be on the line in one position or another, if he makes it at center Odiambo starts at RT. If not he goes to RT. His ability to play multiple positions gives cable what he always wants, guys that can move around if needed.

Evans is key because neither Hunt nor Lewis play the guard spot. Additionally they lack veteran depth and could easily be starting two rookies, a second year, and two 3rd year players. I think Evans comes here because he knows Pete will allow him to compete for a job, but he is depth and insurance at this point.

Either way this line is looking way better than we should be expecting at this point in the season. Odhiambo looks fantastic. Fant is a huge surprise and he may not be a guy they can hide on the practice squad. My whole outlook on this O line is much more positive now than in mini camp.

I wouldn't read anything at all into the shuffling around, it's meaningless at this time of year. Cable's just seeing what he's got, and in light of the Evans signing, he needs to re-think it a little bit.
I'd bet when all is said and done it looks like: LT Gilliam LG Glowinski C Britt (at least to start the year) RG Evans RT Ifedi.
Ifedi is the ideal at right tackle, it's what he was thought of on draft day, until Cable said he wanted to ease him into all this by playing guard first. He's outplayed expectations so far, by all accounts, so I expect he'll be able to handle RT just fine, even as a rookie.
I think the line won't be the dumpster fire so many are predicting. Ifedi, Glowinski, and Gilliam in particular, are all guys I think will outperform expectations. Throw in Evans, who is experienced, and a former multi time all pro, and this line is looking up in my opinion.

monkey wrote:I wouldn't read anything at all into the shuffling around, it's meaningless at this time of year. Cable's just seeing what he's got, and in light of the Evans signing, he needs to re-think it a little bit.
I'd bet when all is said and done it looks like: LT Gilliam LG Glowinski C Britt (at least to start the year) RG Evans RT Ifedi.
Ifedi is the ideal at right tackle, it's what he was thought of on draft day, until Cable said he wanted to ease him into all this by playing guard first. He's outplayed expectations so far, by all accounts, so I expect he'll be able to handle RT just fine, even as a rookie.
I think the line won't be the dumpster fire so many are predicting. Ifedi, Glowinski, and Gilliam in particular, are all guys I think will outperform expectations. Throw in Evans, who is experienced, and a former multi time all pro, and this line is looking up in my opinion.

I agree with the Optimism if Evans is of starting quality. Glowinski and Britt were from reports around all off-season working their butts off. Both are very feisty by nature. We have already discussed the hard work that Gilliam has put in this off-season and how great an athlete he is for a left Tackle. Ifedi and his aggressiveness and willingness to mix it up from the snap through the after the whistle tussles has been the most talked about story of the camp.

These guys are all competitive athletes and maybe they showed up with a giant chip on their shoulders after hearing all the off-season talk about being the "Weak-'Link" on this team?

I'd bet when all is said and done it looks like: LT Gilliam LG Glowinski C Britt (at least to start the year) RG Evans RT Ifedi.

This is my guess as well. We shall see

Evans looked like he had some rust to work off yesterday, but his pass blocking was better than Ifedi's.
Too bad we couldn't platoon the RG's for different plays and not foretell whether it would be a run or pass.
If yesterday was any indication, Ifedi should be a good Guard by the time his first contract is up if not sooner.

LT Sowell
LG Glowiski
C Britt
RG Ifedi
RT Gilliam


My projection for Starting offensive line when real season starts.

Sowell looked pretty good yesterday, you could be on to something.

You may be on to something, Savvy. I remember hearing how high Cable was at the acquisition of Sowell.

Hawk Sista wrote:You may be on to something, Savvy. I remember hearing how high Cable was at the acquisition of Sowell.

Yes if Sowell can be the starter at Left Tackle this is good news. It means that he is better than Gilliam at this position. Cable wants the best five guys on the line and Sowell must have been doing good work for the team to give him a test at this position.

If J'marcus Webb is anywhere on the OLINE when week #1 comes, we're in trouble.

I don't think it necessarily means that "Sowell is better then Gilliam" either. It could very well mean that we are screwed with J'Marcus and we need an option B. Sowell is Option B because Gilliam is way better at RT.

Savvy - I heard Brock (who did the Hawks commentating for the first preseason game) suggest that you are absolutely right. He said he thinks, right now anyway, that it'd be LT - Sowell, LG - Glowinski, C - Britt, RG - Ifedi, RT - Garry. He went on to say that the middle of the line is formidable and that coaches are excited about growing these three lineman up with Russ.

That's what I saw, sis. The interior OL was doing a very good job of getting push at the LOS. You can only draw so much from a single preseason game, but it was encouraging to see. As far as center goes, Unger may have been the more cerebral guy, but Britt looked very physical mixing it up in the run game. If he has the head for it, too, then that would be huge.