Last year Barrett Jones was one of the top left tackles in the country, earning unanimous first-team All-American honors from, among others, the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association and Football Writers Association of America. He was also named as the winner of the 2011 Outland Trophy, which is presented annually to the nation’s best interior lineman.
After flirting with an early move to the NFL, Jones announced in late December that he was returning to the Tide for another season. Somewhat surprisingly, though, that final season won’t include a return to the same position.
As the defending BcS champions opened spring practice Friday, Jones was not working on the outside of the Tide’s offensive line. Instead, the senior-to-be was in the middle of the trenches, working at the center position as the spring officially kicked off.
And, according to head coach Nick Saban, this was no experiment; Jones is moving to center full-time — provided sophomore Cyrus Kouandjio, who is coming back from a knee injury, can prove he’s a capable and healthy replacement for Jones as quarterback AJ McCarrron‘s blindside protector.
“We thought he was a starter last year,” Saban said of Kouandjio. “Obviously, he’s a freshman, but he made tremendous progress. Obviously, his injury set him back a little bit, but he’s worked very hard and made a good recovery.
“We think he can be a very, very good player. There’s no experiment involved in Barrett playing center. That experiment was all done last year. He got a lot of reps and played some in games. I don’t think there’s any question about the fact he’ll do a really good job.”
by J.Taylor
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