FLOWERY BRANCH -- San Jose State left tackle Wes Schweitzer was selected in the sixth round of the NFL draft. The Falcons plan to covert him into an offensive guard.
THOMAS DIMITROFF on Schweitzer: "He's another guy with the makeup. He's an athletic guy. He has wrestling in his background. We've talked about that before as far as the importance of leverage and being able to move around with his wrestling background. We think he continues to have upside. He has the versatility to play tackle as well as inside. ... we think he has got some serious development side to him."
DAN QUINN on Schweitzer: "He played left tackle at San Jose. We're going to play him as an inside guy here. We think he has the versatility, and he could kick out to play tackle, but inside, this is an extremely tough competitor. Keith Carter, who's also on the staff, coached him for years at San Jose. We had a chance to be out there, work him out, and another guy that we're thrilled to bring in the mix."
Schweitzwer had a high comfort level at the team's rookie minicamp.
THREE QUESTIONS WITH SCHWEITZER
Q: Did you wrestle in high school?
A: “Yes, I wrestled in high school. I went to state, and I was a junior at 189 and then I gained 80 pounds for my senior year of high school and then I didn’t wrestle after that, I played football.”
Q: Can you play guard in the NFL?
A: "I'm just excited to get to work with my Offensive Line Coach last year, who is an assistant Offensive Line Coach with the Falcons now, Keith Carter. He just preached, he had a real run heavy like NFL style system coming from the Seahawks. The transition to guard from tackle is pretty much the same concepts. You've still got to do the same kind of blocks, so I'm just really excited to be there."
Q: How did you gain the weight?
A: "As a junior, I went to my second high school, Chapperel High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was 189 pounds. I never started until my senior year in football, and I wrestled at state in February at 189 and by the fall of my senior year I was 270. Like I said, I didn't start until my senior year. I didn't have any offers and basically I was going to join the Marines because I want to serve my country. As I was going to get my physical and swear in to start the whole process, I got my first offer from New Mexico. Then I decided to play college football after that. I had seven offers, and I chose San Jose State."
Wes Schweitzer, guard, San Jose State
Height: 6-feet, 5-inches
Weight: 314 pounds
40-yard dash: 5.15 seconds.
Bench press: 28 reps of 225 pounds
Overview: He's was a fifth-year senior and two-year starter at left tackle. He played in 31 games with 25 career starters. He was honored in 2012 and 2015 on National Student-Athlete Day by the National Consortium for Academics & Sports. He's a three-time academic all-conference award winner.
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