Hoops The Driving Force Behind Andrew Gardner's Success

[jim1]

The 6-foot-6, 305-pound Georgia native was considered by some draft experts to be a steal for Miami when he was selected in the sixth round with the 181st overall pick. A torn labrum that forced him to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery with four games left in Georgia Tech's 2008 season likely caused Gardner to fall in April's NFL Draft. But after rookie mini-camp and then another few weeks of OTAs and mini-camp in Davie, he showed the type of promise the Dolphins' front office was hoping to see.

"Well, I think the shoulder surgery probably didn't help him in the draft. But I do feel like he's got left tackle feet and I think that's rare to find," said Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland, who has a knack for finding quality players in the later rounds. "He was a four-year starter, a captain at a major university. I think that's a good value, absolutely."

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/news/top_story.asp?contentID=6538

 

[72champagne]

"Rebounding in basketball is all about getting the best position in the paint, and when it comes to transcending that skill to football the offensive line is not usually the first place anybody looks."

I'm going to go with 'translating' or even 'transferring'.

Hope this Gardner works out. We need him to.

 

[RaboGrande24]

I thought you meant "hoopz" the hot money hungry whore. Id drive her with force.

 

[Astrosback]

I came away from the draft thinking this might have been one of our best late round picks.

Every scouting report on this guy was solid and he really did slip kind of unfairly due to the timing of his shoulder surgery. He probably should have done the surgery earlier but he was gutting it out to play for GT instead of worrying about his NFL draft stock.

But he is said to have great LT feet and a nice combination of good technique and power, to go along with leadership skills and toughness (was proving to be very durable until the shoulder surgery).

With our lack of depth at OG, I would be curious to see if he could be a starter for us if Thomas (or Smiley) was injured...

LT Long
LG Smiley
OC Grove
RG Carey
RT Gardner

 

[X-Pacolypse]

I thought you meant "hoopz" the hot money hungry whore. Id drive her with force.

I hear that! :hi5:

 

[Pinkboy]

If you guys want to hear him speak, and see him, his interview on aquavision went up today in their Meet the 2009 Rookies segment.

http://www.miamidolphins.com/newsite/aquavision/aquavision.asp?category=1