Cliff Washburn Signed to Cowboys

If you haven't been paying attention to the back pages of the newspapers you've probably missed that former Citadel Basketball standout, Cliff Washburn signed with the Dallas Cowboys. I'm like you in that I even missed this one. I didn't know it until I was reading an article about the Cowboys current tackle position. What I also wasn't aware of is that he has switched sides and gone to offense where he will compete for a offensive tackle position. He was previously with the Chicago Bears as a defensive end.

He switched to tackle last offseason when he was sent to NFL Europe to get more experience. He only started playing football three years ago. It was after he graduated and four years of basketball that he finally put on a football uniform. It was former Citadel Head Coach that convinced him to try football. Once he stepped on the field he was a beast of a defensive end. He went from rebounding machine to a sack master. He was signed by the Giants after he went undrafted and spent his time on the practice squad developing his skills.

Well three years later and he's learning another position and has a long road ahead of him. He's got four players in front of him that he'll have to beat out. Flozell Adams, Jason Fabini, Rob Petitti and Mark Colombo. Adams is Cowboys best tackle coming off a torn ACL. Fabini was signed this offseason to play right tackle. Petitti started all 16 games for Adams last year and Colombo is a former first round pick from the Bears thats been hurt for the last 3 years.

I'm definitely pulling for Cliff to make the squad. It would be awesome to have a Citadel grad on my favorite team. By the way in case you were wondering he has beefed up to a hefty 310 pounds.

Good luck Cliff, hope to see you on Sundays this fall.



(Picture courtesy of NFLEurpoe.com, Cliff in his Frankfurt Galaxy uniform)