{"id":22107,"date":"2016-05-09T08:03:02","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/after-draft-freefall-tunsil-finds-bearings-with-dolphins\/"},"modified":"2016-05-09T08:03:02","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:03:02","slug":"after-draft-freefall-tunsil-finds-bearings-with-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/after-draft-freefall-tunsil-finds-bearings-with-dolphins\/","title":{"rendered":"After draft freefall, Tunsil finds bearings with Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVIE, Fla. \u2014 <\/strong>At 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, Laremy Tunsil\u2019s not easy to knock off-balance, and a bizarre video of him taking a bong hit in a gas mask didn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

The video cost him millions of dollars in the NFL draft and raised concerns about his character. But Tunsil seemed eager to field questions from the media Saturday during the Miami Dolphins\u2019 weekend rookie camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody hit me with one,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n

The biggest question may take several seasons to answer: Did the Dolphins gamble wisely when they ended Tunsil\u2019s draft freefall by taking him with the 13th pick?<\/p>\n

Tunsil believes they did, and said he\u2019s not worried that the video might permanently stain his reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s got their own opinions,\u201d he said cheerfully. \u201cI\u2019m the only one who knows what kind of true character I am. That\u2019s for me to prove to everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunsil made a favorable first impression on Dolphins coaches during the first two days of the rookie camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a great disposition,\u201d offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said. \u201cHe has been very impressive in this camp with how he has attacked the learning, and even with the adversity and how he handled it. That could shipwreck you. For a 20-something-year-old guy, I\u2019ve been impressed with how he\u2019s handled it. As an offensive lineman, you\u2019ve got to keep trucking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tunsil is doing just that without complaint. He\u2019s fine with whatever position he plays (likely guard), and with whatever uniform number he\u2019s assigned (67, after being No. 78 at Ole Miss).<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not even complaining about the money he lost from sliding in the draft after once being touted as a potential No. 1 pick. This week, he signed a $12.45 million, four-year contract and laughed when asked about it, even though last year\u2019s No. 1 overall pick, Jameis Winston, landed a contract for twice as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, you live and you learn,\u201d Tunsil said at the start of the interview session.<\/p>\n

The lessons continue. Last week, Tunsil had an allergic reaction to a seafood lunch he ate hours after arriving in Miami, and said he eventually determined the source of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually found out what kind of fish it was,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it was called mahi-mahi, something like that. I never had that before. Never again \u2014 I can\u2019t go through that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahi-mahi, coincidentally, is also known as dolphin. But Tunsil has had no allergic reaction to his new team.<\/p>\n

He was a left tackle at Ole Miss and has never played guard. But both of the Dolphins\u2019 starting tackles return this year, so Tunsil is expected to line up at left guard between Branden Albert and center Mike Pouncey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever they put me, I\u2019m going to give it my all,\u201d Tunsil said. \u201cIf they put me at quarterback, I\u2019m going to do a seven-step dropback and throw the pass. If they put me at tight end, I\u2019m going to catch the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

He caught a touchdown pass in the Sugar Bowl as a tight end, and has playfully lobbied to play that position with the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

Coach Adam Gase\u2019s response?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll worry about the O-line part first, and then move out,\u201d Gase said.<\/p>\n

Tunsil said the line will be in good hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re awesome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins had other more pressing needs going into the draft, but they considered Tunsil too good to pass up, even as his stock sank with the posting of the notorious video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ecstatic,\u201d Christensen said. \u201cThe further he dropped, I started getting a little knot in my stomach, and I was like, \u2018Aw, don\u2019t get your hopes up.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t believe it happened. He\u2019s such a good player. Not in my wildest dreams did I think we had a chance of him falling that far.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVIE, Fla. \u2014 At 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, Laremy Tunsil\u2019s not easy to knock off-balance, and a bizarre video of him taking a bong hit in a gas mask didn\u2019t do it. The video cost him millions of dollars in the NFL draft and raised concerns about his character. But Tunsil seemed eager to field […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-22107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22107"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}