As Ryan Clady walked onto the practice field at the Ravens' complex in Owings Mills during minicamp one afternoon last week, few paid attention to the offensive tackle from Boise State in the tan business suit.
That could change tomorrow.
If the Ravens take Clady with the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft, he could replace Jonathan Ogden, the 12-year anchor on the left side.
More significantly, it might also be an indication that the experiment of turning second-year tackles Jared Gaither or Marshal Yanda into Ogden's successor has ended.
Clady doesn't possess the gargantuan size of Ogden (6 feet 9, 345 pounds) or Gaither (6-9, 350), and probably isn't as strong as Yanda. But because of the 6-6, 319-pound player's quickness, many general managers and scouts are thinking the former Broncos star, who declared for the draft after his junior season, can be an NFL starter for a long time.
"He's a huge guy who's got great feet," said former Dallas Cowboys personnel director Gil Brandt, who now works for the NFL. "He's going to be a really good player."
A defensive tackle in high school whose profile rose along with the college program he played for, Clady had his biggest moment at Boise State in the biggest game in school history.
On the now-famous Statue of Liberty play that freed running back Ian Johnson for the two-point conversion to beat Oklahoma, 43-42, in the Fiesta Bowl two seasons ago, Clady sealed off the last potential tackler.
"I still get goose bumps when I see that play," Clady said at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in February.
Boise State's season is being made into a movie, and six players from that team were invited to last year's combine.
Clady is likely to become the first Boise State player drafted in the opening round.
Asked at the combine whether his steady rise from a marginal Division I prospect to a potential top-10 NFL draft pick is stunning, Clady said: "A little bit. I just try to stay humble and thank the Lord for the situation I'm in, just being blessed."
There are some who wonder whether Clady can succeed outside Boise State's zone-blocking scheme. Clady's performance at the combine was also scrutinized, even criticized, as much as that of any offensive tackle there.
The biggest issue with Clady was his score on the controversial Wonderlic test given to rate a person's intelligence.
