After a strong career at Tennessee, center James Stone felt he’d give professional football a shot.
If things didn’t work out, he’d return to his hometown of Nashville and try to put his degree to work in public relations.
But Stone made the Falcons’ 53-man roster and now finds himself anchoring the offensive line as the team returned from their bye week break on Monday.
“It’s been crazy,” Stone said. “I can’t sit here and tell you this is what I expected at the beginning of the year.”
With season-ending injuries to Joe Hawley (knee) and Peter Konz (knee), Stone is set to make his second start when the Falcons (2-6) play at Tampa Bay (1-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
“It’s an opportunity in front of me and I’m just trying to make the most of it,” said Stone, who was inactive for the first four games of the season. “I’m going to do everything that I can to help this offensive line and this team be successful.”
Stone played in 45 games and made 39 starts over his career at Tennessee. He started the last 24 games and was named to the Rimington Award watch-list last season.
Along with linemen Ja’Waun James, Zach Fulton and Antonio Richardson, Stone helped the Volunteers gain 2,261 yards rushing last season, the school’s highest total since 2004.
James and Fulton have made starts this season for Miami and Kansas City, respectively. Richardson is on Minnesota’s injured reserve list.
“We had a good offensive line,” Stone said. “We all played together and we developed a bond.”
Now, Stone is trying to develop that same type of bond with season NFL veteran guards Justin Blalock and Jon Asamoah.
“They have been extremely helpful especially during the game and during the practice week,” Stone said. “They do a lot to help support me and I feel like it really helps.”
James went in the first round of the NFL draft. Fulton was selected in the sixth round. Richardson and Stone went undrafted.
“It was one of my goals,” Stone said. “You set your goals and you try to build toward your goals. I knew that there were opportunities out there for undrafted free agents and I just had to try to make the most of it.”
He signed with the Falcons on May 12.
“He’s a guy that we worked out,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “The scouting department had worked him out. Coach (Mike) Tice went and spent some time with him. We were very impressed with his ability to talk the game of football. I think he’s cerebral when it comes to making the calls.”
Hawley went down against the Vikings on Sept. 28 and that was the end of Stone’s time on the inactive list.
He played the following week against the New York Giants.
Konz was injured early against Baltimore on Oct. 19 and Stone played 85 percent of the offensive snaps. He made his first start against Detroit in London.
It was a game effort by Stone, but he was called for a crucial offensive holding penalty when the Falcons were trying to run out the clock.
“There were definitely some things that I could learn from, but I felt like it was good to get out there and get a full game in,” Stone said. “I felt like I did some good things out there and there are some things I can build on.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan believes that Stone will do just fine. After making his first start against Detroit’s vaunted tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley, he’ll face Tampa Bay’s Gerald McCoy.
“I thought James played extremely well,” Ryan said of his Detroit game. “He was on point with his calls and kind of getting everybody on the same page up front. I was very, very happy with the way he played.”
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