Aug. 29, 2005
ATLANTA–At 6-3 and 310 pounds, Mansfield Wrotto is a lineman, no doubt about that. And he’ll again be plying his trade at defensive tackle, after a brief stint on the offensive line.
Wrotto has started at defensive tackle in 21 of 25 Tech’s last games, but after last season he was asked by head coach Chan Gailey to move to the offensive line for 2005.
“When Coach Gailey talked to me and told me that he was putting me at guard, I wasn’t surprised,” said Wrotto. “I was ready to do whatever I needed to do for the team.”
Team is a concept which drives Wrotto. Now a junior, he played offensive line during his high school career, along with defensive line, at Brookwood High in Snellville, Ga. He actually was asked to switch from offense to defense as a freshman at Georgia Tech.
“In high school I was actually, to be honest with you, a better offensive than defensive lineman,” said Wrotto. “So I was recruited for the offensive line, but they needed me on the defensive side of the ball when I got here, so that’s what I did.”
Wrotto proved to the coaching staff then, his versatility and ability to make adjustments to help out the team. He quickly became a starter for the Jackets on the defensive line and tallied 14 tackles as a rookie, including four tackles for a loss.
“He’s not a fast guy – he doesn’t ran a fast 40-yard dash time, but in a small area he’s quick and strong,” Gailey said of Wrotto. “That’s what he brings to our team.”
After two solid seasons on defense, Wrotto was going to have to learn how to play on the offensive line, for the better of the team … something he is very familiar with. So when spring football practice rolled around, he was ready to do his part and learn a new position, or so he thought?
“This was the hardest spring I had at Tech,” said Wrotto. “Coach D [Joe D’Alessandris] is a very tough coach, but I learned a lot from the offensive line. There’s a lot of technique and a lot of footsteps on the offensive line that I really learned a lot about.”
Following all that hard work and determination on the offensive line, Wrotto was asked to move back to the defensive line after a season-ending injury to defensive tackle Darryl Richard. With a smile and an eagerness to apply what he had learned to work to his advantage, Wrotto agreed.
“I actually got in a lot better shape because of the way Coach D coached,” said Wrotto. “It’s an ongoing process, no real long rest periods. I learned how to use my hands more effectively and I’m ready to get back to defense with an offensive perspective.”
Now that he’s back on defense Wrotto is poised to improve on his performance over the last two seasons but Gailey also said that Wrotto’s future may still be on the offensive line.
“I left Mansfield with that when I told him the team needed him to move back to defense,” he said. “I told him that we were leaving open the possibility for him to move to the offensive line for his senior season, and he was great with that. But we’ll talk it over after the season, and he’ll have a lot of input into the direction we go for next season.”
Wrotto’s character is put into perspective when you look at his family background. Born in the West African nation of Liberia, Wrotto and his parents, Mansfield and Jemmie, moved to the United States when he was six-years-old. Unable to make the voyage was his grandmother, who works in a church mission in her native country.
“We send money over there for her, and her church group,” said Wrotto. “I call her now and then, but it’s really hard to always get in touch with her. I think it was a year or two ago, there was a conflict in the area and it was impossible to get in touch with her, but I just talked to her about two weeks ago and she is doing fine.”
When asked if his grandmother was getting updates on her grandson’s football career at Georgia Tech and how much he is doing to help his team succeed, Wrotto responded, “she would think I was talking about soccer,” Wrotto laughs. “I try to explain to her what football is over here and what we do, but she’s still up in the air.”
