Oher was drafted to be a LT as the legend suggests. He played RT last year while another young guy played his 2nd season @ LT. You may recall that throughout most of the Ravens' history, LT was held down by future HOFer Jonathan Ogden (the 1st Raven ever drafted who retired after the 2007 season). In 2008 & 2009, we used primarily a 5th round supplemental draftee named Jared Gaither, a big, prototypical LT (tall, quick feet, long arms, etc.). A Maryland native who didn't play organized football till his Sr. year in HS, but nevertheless won a scholarship to Univ. of Maryland after a post-grad year at a military academy. Started his 1st year at U Md, but struggled w/ grades and questionable commitment to the program. Maryland coaches switched him to RT, and he sulked (presumably thinking that he was entitled to the fast-track to LT $). He slacked off on the field and the books, and lost his scholarship after Soph. year. He entered the NFL Supplemental Draft, and the Ravens took a flyer on him in the 5th round. It was starting to look like we had found a steal. Had some injuries (shoulder prob in 2008, neck injury at Foxboro - backboard, unscrewed facemask, the works - in 2009), but was certainly penciled in as a starting OT for 2010, when he decided to avoid off-season training/conditioning with the team (at the apparent suggestion of notorious ******** agent Drew Rosenhaus). Harbaugh made what most assume was a calculated effort to light a fire under his butt by announcing that he was switching Oher to LT and Gaither to RT. Well, 2nd day of mini-camp, Gaither's foot is sore. We don't see him again till training camp when he arrives
30 lbs lighter and comes up w/ a back spasms by day 3. Well, the media & fans (me among them) cry foul: the guy is jaking cause he's mad about the switch, he lost weight to make himself less attractive as a RT, his back & foot problems are due to poor conditioning/training on his own, and all of this is partially orchestrated by Drew Rosenhaus.
His doctors say he has a thoracic disk problem, the Ravens doctors can't find anything nor get a straight timely answers from his doctors in Calif., and the guy hasn't seen the field for more than 1 or 2 practices since Aug. 1. We call it Gaither-gate.
Meanwhile, RT backups don't impress in preseason, so we move RG Marshall Yanda to RT (where he's played before, but he was a beast at RG) and put our best sub for G & C in at RG (Chris Chester) leaving us pretty thin at interior OL. This line up is finally starting to gel now, and Gaither is headed to IR or outright release soon (
Please God)). It was his contract year, so you'd assume Gaither knew jaking would kinda hurt his marketability as a FA (but remember the kid is only 24), so I personally think he just decided he doesn't like football after all. Thanks for listening
- but I know you asked about Oher...
Oher didn't look good subbing at LT for an injured Gaither last year, nor did he look immediately impressive in preseason (though he kept Orakapo of the 'Skins and the NYG rush off Flacco). He's getting the hang of it as this OL gels. He handled Ellis of the Jets tolerably well, and the Pitts. DL also. Denver was *****ing that he was offsides on nearly every play, but the refs called it right if you look at the tapes. He is really
just that fast off the snap.
One irony in Gaither-gate is that Oher
really is a hard worker/fast learner, high character guy - kind of the polar opposite of Gaither's [perceived] persona. We've got 2 retread vets (Moll & Kooistra), and a 3rd yr project draftee (Cousins) also on the roster at OT, but it seems like we're going to go w/ Yanda @ RT and Oher @ LT through this season, w/ Oher installed from here on out on the "blindside" - life follows art
