At last, Steelers place Colon on guard duty

At last, Steelers place Colon on guard duty
August 3, 2012 9:29 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.

The early returns from training camp show the move to be a good one.

"Moving Willie to guard, I think, is great because he's just a mauler in there, he's so physical," Roethlisberger said. "You put him in a phone booth, and he's just and animal."

His performance at left guard through the first week of practices has been nothing short of sensational and he got off with a bang. In the first practice in pads Saturday, he flattened linebacker Lawrence Timmons, a block that prompted a brief scuffle on the ground.

"Oh my God. He's a dog, man," center Maurkice Pouncey said. "He's a big dude in there, man -- a monster in there, actually."


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/guard-duty-647402/#ixzz22UbNvYGI

anybody else do this as you were reading the article

vasteeler wrote:

anybody else do this as you were reading the article

You don't even wanna know what I was doing.

No I Was actually doing this

SteelCityMom wrote:

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.

I said this 1000 times and everybody said I was full of crap. He wasn't moved suddenly this year because Arians is gone...it's because they didn't have anybody else to play right tackle.

Dodens Grav wrote:

SteelCityMom wrote:

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.

I said this 1000 times and everybody said I was full of crap. He wasn't moved suddenly this year because Arians is gone...it's because they didn't have anybody else to play right tackle.

I'm just glad they finally did whatever the reason. I've heard for some time now that he would be a much better guard than tackle and, judging by the camp reports, it seems to be true. UNLEASH THE BEAST!

Dodens Grav wrote:

SteelCityMom wrote:

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.

I said this 1000 times and everybody said I was full of crap. He wasn't moved suddenly this year because Arians is gone...it's because they didn't have anybody else to play right tackle.

And, if I recall correctly, I was one of the only ones to agree with you, and I took heat from THAT. I, for the life of me, couldn't understand why people couldn't grasp this. Sure, Arians wasn't my favorite coach, but not everything is his fault.

vasteeler wrote:

anybody else do this as you were reading the article

I was, but felt it was getting hard to read after a while..plus was getting me dizzy.

RoethlisbergersLG78 wrote:

vasteeler wrote:

anybody else do this as you were reading the article

I was, but felt it was getting hard to read after a while..plus was getting me dizzy.

Yeah. I agree with you. My neck hurts now, and i'm lightheaded.

bayz101 wrote:

RoethlisbergersLG78 wrote:

I was, but felt it was getting hard to read after a while..plus was getting me dizzy.

Yeah. I agree with you. My neck hurts now, and i'm lightheaded.

You guys sound like Big Ben