Sheldon Mickles, in a special report for the Advertiser, wrote a profile of former Saint standout lineman, William Roaf's induction to the Louisiana Hall of Fame. Former Saints coach Jim Mora was interviewed for the report. From the article:Mora couldn't help but chuckle at his first in-person look at Roaf, whom he had only seen on tape before he was drafted. When the pigeon-toed Roaf walked out of the locker room and passed Mora on his way to his first minicamp practice, the coach did a double-take.
"He walks kind of funny, and when I saw him I was concerned we had drafted a guy with some kind of a problem," Mora said with a laugh.
Of course, he didn't know then what he knows now - that Roaf was the best offensive lineman he'd ever been around in all his years as an NFL assistant and highly-successful USFL and NFL head coach.
"Watching him in that first minicamp, I saw the moves and the quickness he had," Mora said. "A lot of offensive lineman are fat. Willie wasn't fat ... he was just a physically imposing guy. He had big shoulders and long arms, he was just a big man.
"The way he moved, that quickness and athletic ability and skill - that's what impressed me the most," he said. "That's what made him such a great player. If I were starting a team right now, I'd take Willie."
More here.
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