Tony Gonzalez is onboard, courtesy of DOL. It would seem that Matty is thrilled to have him, too.
To complement Dave's post about Julio, I'm going to briefly talk about him, as well as add to his ever-growing legacy. I looked over Len Pasquarelli's article that Dave linked in his post and came away impressed.
(Here's an article with some professional opinions, as well.)
The thing with Julio is that he's confident in his abilities, but he words his confidence in such a way that it doesn't come off as arrogant. He's just a team player. For instance, in the article, Pasquarelli talks about how Julio ran a surprisingly fast 40 time but wasn't really viewed as a deep threat. To that, Julio said,
"I can be as fast," Jones said Thursday night, "as they need me to be."
Consider me giggling like a schoolgirl.
But you see how he said that? "I can be as fast as they need me to be." He didn't say, "Don't worry, I'll run past them all." He said he'd be as fast as the team needs him to be. It's almost unreal to think that someone is that dedicated to a team effort. But you know, Saban (much as the UGA fan in me dislikes the coach, I respect the man, for sure) prepares his kids as good as anyone for the NFL, and I certainly appreciate it.
I firmly believe this kid is going to be the real deal. I think players of his talent turn into busts because they lack the drive and the work ethic to succeed. Everyone who makes it to the NFL can play ball, but it's the players who put the most work into it.
What made Roddy suddenly catch fire? It was Joe Horn's work ethic. Roddy always had the talent, but he thought he could easymode his way through his career. Sorry, it doesn't work like that.
Thankfully, Roddy can pass on the torch to Julio and we'll be hitting 88 mph every week for the next 10 years.
You all know I love the pick. I don't think there's any doubt there, and while there's not a 100% guarantee Julio will be successful, I think Dimtroff's past four first rounders (Ryan, Baker, Jerry, Spoon) all being starters (injuries be darned here) should ease some of your worries.
As fair warning, I'll have a debate post going up in the next day or two, and I think it's a question worth considering. To give you a hint, I'm going to suggest why offensive failure this year might not be all on Mularkey. Here we go again.