Inside the Panthers: More on Panthers' other Auburn pick-up
Wednesday, May 11, 2011|
Spicy NewsThe man who had Cam Newton's back (side) at Auburn is a smart, funny guy with a huge frame.
Whether Lee Ziemba can play offensive tackle in the NFL remains to be seen.
But he's big -- 6-6 and 317 -- started a school-record 52 games for the Tigers and won the Jacobs Trophy last year as the SEC's best blocker.
Ziemba did not have a good combine. And there were concerns about his knee following surgery to repair a torn meniscus two years ago.
But getting him in the seventh round seems like a pretty good deal for the Panthers. There's little financial risk, and potentially a high reward.
A few leftovers that didn't make it into Sunday's story on the second player in Panthers' history whose last name begins with a Z. (Jeff Zgonina, a nose tackle on the '95 expansion team, is the other.)
Though he played left tackle his final three years at Auburn, Ziemba said the Panthers plan to use him at right tackle initially.Ziemba played the right side at the Senior Bowl, where he had a strong performance.
Ziemba wasted little time trying to track down the Panthers' playbook. He reached out to veteran linemen Travelle Whartonand Jordan Gross after he was drafted, and was scheduled to drive from Auburn to Atlanta on Saturday to go over the playbook with Newton.
As for Newton, Ziemba marveled at the way Newton handled the pay-for-play firestorm that threatened to derail Auburn's championship season and Newton's Heisman campaign.
"That guy, he's amazing the way he dealt with it," Ziemba said. "It really fueled him and brought out the best in him. He played with a passion, and he loves the game. You certainly could see that playing with him.
Posted in
World News
0 comments for this post
Leave a reply