Tell me about Gaither

I think very few people here feel as strongly about it as you.

Right… and if they had 2-3 young, promising players at tackle, I may agree with you. The fact is they are extremely thin at tackle and just let an extremely talented, young player, who would’ve signed a cheap contract, walk.

Maybe Gaither wasn’t willing to play RT, and we werent willing to move Oher. And btw, Reid, Cousins and Harewood are just as promising as our bevy of WR’s (Torrey, Doss, Marcus Smith, David Reed, Hardy, LaQuan Williams etc).

Reid is our Torrey, David Reed is our Harewood, and Cousins is James Hardy.

Btw, Oniel Cousins can play LT if Oher goes down with an injury. Interestingly, Cousins was a DT for his first 2 years of college, then went to LT for his junior year, and RT for his senior year. So we should probably not write him off yet since he was pretty new to the position when we drafted him.

Cousins, a native Jamaican, signed with UTEP as a defensive tackle and remained at this position until being moved to left tackle as a junior.

Cousins’ natural size and athleticism helped him make the transition to the offensive side of the ball, but he predictably struggled with technique. In making the move as a senior to the right side of the line, Cousins enjoyed significant improvement.

He flashes the foot quickness to ultimately move back to the left side and has developed his upper body strength and use of hands significantly. In fact, Cousins’ rapid development has scouts talking of Cousins as one of the real “diamond in the rough” types of a strong 2008 crop of offensive tackles.

The concern, of course, is that Cousins remains an unpolished diamond — one that will require some development before he is ready to contribute at the NFL level. Cousins flashes the athleticism needed to play on the outside, but early in his career teams may elect to move him inside — where he has never played — to get him acclimated to the speed of the pro game.
http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/oniel-cousins?id=1260

Also, Jah Reid can play Guard if we need him too.

And Harewood has experience at LT too:

Grant had accepted a position as an assistant coach for the Morehouse College football team. One day, the coach heard back from the player he befriended. “I just decided to call (Grant) one day and that was it,” Harewood stated. He was accepted for the 2006 spring term and received an academic scholarship.

“When the opportunity arose for me to at least come over here and get a good education, even if I didn’t get to play sports, it would have been better,” said Harewood, whose only experience with football to that point had been watching it on television. He would eventually become one of the best players to ever suit up for the school and compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

After learning the game from the sidelines, Harwood finally got an opportunity to play in the final two contests of the 2006 campaign – as a defensive lineman. He posted seven tackles with a stop behind the line of scrimmage as a raw freshman.

Harewood proved to be a quick learner, befitting his 3.0-plus grade point average in Applied Physics and Engineering. “I don’t think it’s been too hard to learn, to be honest with you,” he said. “Sometimes it got confusing, like dealing with different defenses, but it’s never been too hard.”

Even after he switched to the offensive side of the ball in 2007, the Maroon Tigers’ new right tackle had a solid campaign, producing 63 knockdowns to go with seven touchdown-resulting blocks. That performance earned him All-SIAC second-team honors, as he led the squad to a 7-3 record. He also made two tackles and blocked a punt.

Harewood was named to the All-SIAC first-team as a junior and senior. In 2008, the ground game was virtually non-existent, as Morehouse gained just 418 yards, but the right tackle was credited with 92 knockdowns and 10 touchdown-resulting blocks while honing his pass protection skills.

Harewood added All-American honors as a senior. He moved to left tackle, where he delivered 15 touchdown-resulting blocks for an offense that generated 3,077 yards while finishing with a 7-3 record.

“Ramon’s definitely a bona fide NFL prospect,” said Morehouse coach Rich Freeman. The coach said that almost every NFL team sent a scout to the school last fall. “We’re blessed to have him, glad to have him,” said athletics director Andre Pattillo. “He’s the prototype of the student-athlete that we wish we could get on a consistent basis.”

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1675485