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Unheralded guard Nagy off to a good start with Cowboys
Posted Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011
By Charean Williams
cjwilliams@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON -- Offensive lineman Bill Nagy was a part-time starter at Wisconsin. He was a seventh-round choice -- the 252nd overall pick -- in April's NFL Draft. Now, after only 23 practices, and no off-season work with the team, he's a starter for the Dallas Cowboys.
Go figure.
"[Starting] was a goal of mine," Nagy said. "I mean, if I had told anybody [that] coming into Day One, people would probably have thought it was crazy. It was just one of those things where I just took it one day at a time, one practice, one meeting, one everything."
Veteran guard Montrae Holland has been sidelined since Aug. 5 when he hurt his back. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he is hopeful Holland can return to practice next week.
But Holland's left guard job has been filled nicely by rookies Nagy and David Arkin, so it is hardly a given Holland will start the Sept. 11 season opener against the New York Jets.
Nagy will get his second consecutive preseason start Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings, and having spent the past two weeks with the first-team offense, the job might be his to lose.
"You would rather have a more experienced guy at every position, but there are some positions where that is not the case," Garrett said. "He's done a really nice job transitioning, and he's not playing like a rookie. He's handled some different looks in practice and different looks in the game. If you remember the first play of the game the other night [against the San Diego Chargers], the [middle] linebacker comes screaming through the A-gap and potentially could knock Felix [Jones] down for a 5-yard loss. Sometimes it happens by luck, but it seems like the smarter, more instinctive guys get luckier. He's a guy who saw that [linebacker] and knocked him off, and then we made a nice run to start the football game.
"He's one of those guys who's shown us a lot of that. He has a long way to go, but he's certainly off to a good start."
Nagy has acted as though he belongs despite limited college experience. He missed most of his junior season and needed much of his senior season to fully recover from a moped accident. Nagy tore ligaments in the arch of his right foot and injured his right wrist in a July 16, 2009, crash with a car that ran a red light.
In his four-year career, Nagy played only 29 games, with only 11 starts. Still, he was one of three Wisconsin offensive linemen drafted in April, following first-rounder Gabe Carimi and third-rounder John Moffitt.
The Cowboys figured they were getting a project in Nagy, not a player who would contend for a starting job immediately.
"I think that's a fair assumption," offensive line coach Hudson Houck said. "...You can tell by our thinking where we drafted him. But we knew he was a pretty good player. How good is yet to be seen."
Nagy has done enough to earn a spot on the 53-player roster. The starting job remains a competition with Nagy, Arkin and eventually Holland.
"I'm just showing up and doing whatever they tell me to do," Nagy said. "It's not anything else than that. I'm just showing up and competing. Whatever happens, happens."
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/25/3314585/unheralded-guard-nagy-off-to-a.html#ixzz1W8WzrFyu
Posted Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011
By Charean Williams
cjwilliams@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON -- Offensive lineman Bill Nagy was a part-time starter at Wisconsin. He was a seventh-round choice -- the 252nd overall pick -- in April's NFL Draft. Now, after only 23 practices, and no off-season work with the team, he's a starter for the Dallas Cowboys.
Go figure.
"[Starting] was a goal of mine," Nagy said. "I mean, if I had told anybody [that] coming into Day One, people would probably have thought it was crazy. It was just one of those things where I just took it one day at a time, one practice, one meeting, one everything."
Veteran guard Montrae Holland has been sidelined since Aug. 5 when he hurt his back. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he is hopeful Holland can return to practice next week.
But Holland's left guard job has been filled nicely by rookies Nagy and David Arkin, so it is hardly a given Holland will start the Sept. 11 season opener against the New York Jets.
Nagy will get his second consecutive preseason start Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings, and having spent the past two weeks with the first-team offense, the job might be his to lose.
"You would rather have a more experienced guy at every position, but there are some positions where that is not the case," Garrett said. "He's done a really nice job transitioning, and he's not playing like a rookie. He's handled some different looks in practice and different looks in the game. If you remember the first play of the game the other night [against the San Diego Chargers], the [middle] linebacker comes screaming through the A-gap and potentially could knock Felix [Jones] down for a 5-yard loss. Sometimes it happens by luck, but it seems like the smarter, more instinctive guys get luckier. He's a guy who saw that [linebacker] and knocked him off, and then we made a nice run to start the football game.
"He's one of those guys who's shown us a lot of that. He has a long way to go, but he's certainly off to a good start."
Nagy has acted as though he belongs despite limited college experience. He missed most of his junior season and needed much of his senior season to fully recover from a moped accident. Nagy tore ligaments in the arch of his right foot and injured his right wrist in a July 16, 2009, crash with a car that ran a red light.
In his four-year career, Nagy played only 29 games, with only 11 starts. Still, he was one of three Wisconsin offensive linemen drafted in April, following first-rounder Gabe Carimi and third-rounder John Moffitt.
The Cowboys figured they were getting a project in Nagy, not a player who would contend for a starting job immediately.
"I think that's a fair assumption," offensive line coach Hudson Houck said. "...You can tell by our thinking where we drafted him. But we knew he was a pretty good player. How good is yet to be seen."
Nagy has done enough to earn a spot on the 53-player roster. The starting job remains a competition with Nagy, Arkin and eventually Holland.
"I'm just showing up and doing whatever they tell me to do," Nagy said. "It's not anything else than that. I'm just showing up and competing. Whatever happens, happens."
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/25/3314585/unheralded-guard-nagy-off-to-a.html#ixzz1W8WzrFyu