The Football Brainiacs

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Offensive lineman Sebastian Tretola of Iowa Western Community College will be taking an official visit to Norman for the Iowa State game this weekend. He is listed as an offensive tackle and played that spot in JUCO but in my opinion he’s going to be a guard for us – and he might end up being a dang good one.

What jumps off the tape about Sebastian is how powerful he is. I’ve talked about how I like players with violent hands in previous evaluations, and if you wanted an example of what that means, watch Sebastian’s tape. When he gets his hands on you, to say it’s over just wouldn’t do it justice. Like Sidney told Billy on “White Men Can’t Jump”…”You can listen to Jimi, but you can’t hear Jimi.” Sooner fans have been chirping about needing big, physical, intimidating offensive linemen, and this guy definitely fits the bill. What’s intriguing about Sebastian, is how physical he’s able to be in spite of his technique being so unsound. He looks like a big ‘ol pop tart since he pops up on just about every play, he opens the gate too wide on his pass sets, and I don’t think I saw a single down where he played flat backed. After reading those last few sentences you may wonder what we would see in such a player, but if you can look beyond the bad technique, you’ll see an unrefined bull ox just waiting to be unleashed. He’s not even using half of his power since it’s all upper body, and he’s still able to rag doll people around like it ain’t nothin’. Sebastian is someone who undoubtedly could become an NFL guy down the road IF he learns to play with good technique. If he learns how to get lower, play flat backed and explode into people out of his stance…theyll have to rig up a steam whistle on his helmet to make it fair for opposing defensive linemen. You can learn better technique, but you can’t learn his power.

Right out the gate I don’t see a guy who can come in and play tackle for us, but if you stop and think about it for a second, you see a guy who’s ideally suited to be a monster guard. He’s a bigger, more powerful version of Adam Shead. He’s a very smart player and looks really smooth when he’s moving forward. There’s a play that stood out to me on tape where he pulls around from the right side and up into the middle on a power play. You’re taught when you pull up in the hole as an offensive lineman to dip your inside shoulder to give you that natural lean coming through the hole. You’re also taught to get your eyes ready to look back inside as you dip that shoulder, so you’ll be able to square up those scraping linebackers who are working inside-out. After all, that’s how you get your picture in the paper!  Sebastian did that, plus you could see his head was turned and his eyes were where he needed to have them. This tells me that he’s coachable and he listens to what his coaches are trying to teach him. So all of the technique issues I mentioned earlier aren’t as great of a concern, because I see a guy who shows me in one play that he’s able to take direction. He showed above average intelligence on the same play. When he didn’t see anyone coming from inside-out, he whipped his head back outside to see if anyone would show there. When they did show…destruction ensued. You gotta believe that Coach Bedenbaugh saw that play and immediately thought of Sebastian playing guard for us. We run that play a lot inside, and it looked like it came naturally for him to pull around and be physical in the hole.

We’ve been talking a lot here on The Football Brainiacs about how we can see the direction of the build that’s taking place on the defensive side of the ball. Players like Sebastian give you the same sense about where Coach Bedenbaugh wants to take this offensive line. I know that a lot of fans will be concerned that we still don’t have a tackle signed up this year, but we’re still in on Jovan Pruitt, and you can’t help but wonder about Braden Smith either. You also have St. John and Farniok still on campus as well. Given that Tyrus Thompson and Daryl Williams, still have one more year, it gives us time to get Derek and Josiah ready to step in when Tyrus and Daryl leave. You won’t find a better athlete than Josiah, so in a sense, he’s the yin to Sebastian’s yang. While you get blown away by Josiah’s athleticism, you also get blown away by Sebastian’s power. Both need technical work, and after watching the improvements this offensive line have made over the last year, I have no doubt those improvements will be made. We have a sage holding court with our offensive line, so to see the raw materials these guys bring to Coach Bedenbaugh’s easel gets me excited. We should all be excited about getting a player like Sebastian. He brings something you don’t see very often. It’s a special brand of power nasty that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t teach.