Yesterday, on his new Twitter page, Phil B. Wilson of the Indy Star gave us a bit of insight into who he thinks will start at the offensive guard spots as we inch closer to the Colts first pre-season game:
Don't be surprised if the #Colts' starters at guard, at least for the start of preseason, are Tony Ugoh (LG) and Mike Pollak (RG).
Today, on his Indy Star "blog," Phil re-iterated his hunch:
RG Mike Pollak was with the starters. The hunch is Ugoh would have been, too, on the left side if he didn't get the day off. I tweeted this already (shameless plug again for pwilson24, my growing Twitter account), but something tells me the Colts have Ugoh and Pollak penciled in as starters at least for the opening of preseason.
If Phil's hunch turns into reality on Aug. 15th, that would be a huge turn of events for two players who have been utter draft busts for the Colts and Bill Polian.
Both Tony Ugoh and Mike Pollak lost their starting jobs last year to unknowns Charlie Johnson and Kyle DeVan. If Pollak is back as the starter, it means he has unseated DeVan and wrestled back his spot.
For Ugoh, played LG is a position change for the one-time "franchise" left tackle. Prior to this season, Ugoh had never played guard. When I spoke to him at the Super Bowl in Miami, I asked him, point blank, if he would consider switching to a new position. He said no. He considered himself a left tackle.
Six months later, Tony might be a starter again... at guard.
Obviously, most of us personally want to see Ugoh and Pollak succeed. What I hope is the Colts are not shoving these guys in there in a desperate attempt to justify using first day picks on them in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The Colts are not known for doing that, but Pete Metzelaars is new to the offensive line position coach job.
Realistically it's likely that Metzelaars does not hold grudges against players like Pollak and Ugoh, and is willing to allow second chances. With Howard Mudd, if you got on his bad side, you stayed there. Maybe the silver lining in Mudd's semi-retirement is that it breathes new life into the careers of talented players like Ugoh and Pollak.