The Prospect:

Name: Alijah Vera-Tucker
School: USC
Year: rJr
Position: Offensive Line
Measurements: Height 6’4”, Weight 315 pounds

Stats:

12 games played as a redshirt freshman in 2018.
13 games started at left guard in 2019.
Six games started at left tackle in 2020.

General Info:

Alijah Vera-Tucker attended Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland California. As a senior, he played both offensive tackle and defensive end. He had 12 tackles, three tackles for loss, and a blocked punt in his senior season. Vera-Tucker made the Prep Star All-American Dream Team, USA Today All-California first team, Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team, and San Francisco Chronicle All-Metro first team, to name a few.

In college, Vera-Tucker redshirted as a freshman, and played in 12 games at right guard in his second season. In 2019, Vera-Tucker started all 13 games at left guard, and shifted to tackle in 2020, where he started every game. 

Positional Skills:

Strengths

The first thing that stands out with Alijah Vera-Tucker is his rare versatility. It’s not common to see offensive linemen look exceptional at multiple positions. Vera-Tucker allowed just six pressures in 357 pass blocking snaps at guard in 2019 per PFF, and then transitioned to tackle in 2020 with the Trojans without missing a beat.

Vera-Tucker is the definition of a road grader in the run game, and he’s consistently displacing defenders off the line of scrimmage and driving them down the field. He has a great vice grip and displays very good leg drive once he’s latched on to defenders. Vera-Tucker is quick out of his stance and great at climbing to the second level. He engages second level defenders well to open up holes for big gains in the running game. Vera-Tucker is also good at gaining inside leverage and turning defenders to the outside.

As a pass protector, Vera-Tucker may not be the best in the class, but he does so many things well. He isn’t an elite athlete for the position, but displays adequate agility to frame rushers. Vera-Tucker has a good initial strike to get defenders off balance and good extension to keep defenders off of his frame. His pass sets are steady and his balance is exceptional, and he stays active with his hands and feet throughout his reps.

Vera-Tucker has great processing skills in pass protection, showing good awareness to pass off stunts and receive. He will also give up some ground at times to speed to power rushers, but he chops his feet well to gain control back.

As a guard, a lot of the similar traits show up. His vision and awareness of who needs help are evident, and he recognizes when defenders are going to drop in coverage.

Weaknesses

While Vera-Tucker is very good at tackle, there will be some questions with his game. Rushers with a quick first step and good change of direction skills may get him to over commit. He doesn’t drop anchor particularly well, and that could be an issue with speed to power rushers in the NFL. He needs to work on shortening the time in which he recovers, cause letting the pocket collapse quickly can’t happen as a tackle. In the run game, Vera-Tucker will climb a little too far and overrun second level defenders at times.

Many NFL teams will question the arm length, and will probably grade him as a guard and write him off to play tackle.

Fit with the Packers:

The Green Bay Packers did draft three offensive linemen on day three of the NFL Draft last year, but losing Corey Linsley and potentially playing without David Bakhtiari could lead them to believe that offensive line is still a need.

Rare versatility is something Packers fans are familiar with (looking at you Elgton Jenkins) and adding that to fold once again would be exceptional. It’s not just Vera-Tucker’s versatility to play both guard and tackle, but it’s his ability to thrive in pass protection, along with his versatile skill set in the run game.

His defender displacement skills make him a perfect fit in power schemes, but his ability to climb to the second level, along with his flashes of movement skills in space, make zone schemes plausible for him to succeed in.

Vera-Tucker’s prowess as a pass blocker will be a welcome addition to a team that continues to focus on protecting Aaron Rodgers. His power, balance, and awareness make him a perfect fit and very good starter from day one in a diverse offense in need of some more depth and potential starters.