Green Bay Josh Sitton didn't really take it seriously. It was too easy. He was so much bigger and better than anyone else at Pensacola Catholic High School he really had no motivation to work too hard. So he didn't.

And it drove his coach, Michael Smith, nuts.

"I was kind of a (expletive), I guess," Sitton said. "I didn't see how good I could be. I wasn't focused until I missed a workout one time and he said, 'This is it, you've got to be here.' Then I started to turn it around."

And then he started to believe Smith.

Smith was always telling Sitton he had the talent and potential to take his game to another level even when the Florida college powerhouses weren't calling.

Years later, as Sitton emerges in his third year with the Green Bay Packers as one of the best offensive linemen on the team, Smith said the rest of the world is finally catching up to what he knew all along.

[img_r]http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slideshows/621/slideshow_62152/display_image.jpg[/img_r]

The guy is good.

"That Josh Sitton is one heck of a player now," former Packers general manager Ron Wolf said recently when asked which players he still liked to watch a decade after his retirement. "I don't know why he doesn't get his due. He is really a good player. It's a shame."

Not getting his due might have to do with the position. Who really pays close attention to linemen unless disaster strikes? Sitton, as starting right guard, protects Aaron Rodgers from getting sacked and tries to open holes for the running game. He's been consistently good at both.

But he also might be unknown because Sitton is a late bloomer.

Smith first coached Sitton as a junior in high school and immediately recognized his combination of size and speed, a rare and telltale sign of an elite lineman.

Smith capitalized on that by playing Sitton on the line, where he would allow just two sacks in his final two years, but at linebacker as well.

That's right. Linebacker. Chasing down tight ends and skittish little 16-year-old running backs, with Sitton playing at 270 pounds then.

"Those opposing players would get a load of Sitton with growing wide eyes," Smith said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah. Amazing athlete. Real rough around the edges, though," Smith said. "He was bigger than everybody else, so he kind of pushed people around. When you're bigger and better than everyone else you can kind of do it halfway and still be successful. It was after his junior year that he realized he could play more than high school ball. He really started to push it."

But by that time, the big schools like Florida State, Florida and Miami had already had their guys.

"It was also one of those things where some people develop later," said Smith. "I called coach (George) O'Leary and said this guy can play. It was like a steal getting Josh."

O'Leary completely agreed. The coach had just taken over at Central Florida when he recruited Sitton, and 2007, Sitton's final year there, was the best in program history. UCF won 10 games and the Conference USA championship and went to the Liberty Bowl. Sitton had improved in every way.

"With Josh, it was just a matter of time. A lot of kids come out of high school not knowing how to pass protect," said Joe Gilbert, Sitton's offensive line coach at UCF at the time. He's now at the University of Illinois. "He didn't quite do that well all the time. But he did a lot of the things in the off-season to get better and I'd like to think he does that very well now."

Sitton threw blocks for Kevin Smith (now with the Detroit Lions), who racked up 2,567 rushing yards, the second highest single-season output in NCAA history. Even while blocking for Smith, Sitton became known for his athletic ability and was appointed one of the team captains.

"He's really a good athlete for a big guy," said O'Leary. "He has great hand-eye skills. In fact, in one of our pre-practices before a game, I was kidding around with the players and I sent him out to kick a 43-yard-field goal.

"And he made it. Put it right through the uprights."

In fact, if O'Leary would have had enough athletic linemen, he would have made Sitton his center, and thinks Sitton could have made a good center in the NFL.

"He has a lot of talents, he's not off his feet a lot and he has a quick first step," said O'Leary. "He played right tackle, he could play guard, he was the guy who solidified the front. He could make all the calls across the whole line. He had a lot to do with Kevin's success; a lot of Kevin's plays ran behind him."

Green Bay safety Atari Bigby was one of the first NFL players to come from the Knights program under O'Leary, but not all GMs and NFL scouts have the Knights on their radar.

Except for Packer GM Ted Thompson. He seems to love finding great talent off the beaten path, from Western Michigan, Boise State, Central Michigan and Shippensburg, so why not Orlando and UCF?

Thompson took Sitton in the fourth round in 2008.

In Green Bay, Sitton took to the teachings of line coach James Campen. Surprisingly, it wasn't technique that had to be addressed first.

"Campen brought out, really, a nasty streak in me," said Sitton. "I thought I was kind of a nasty player a little bit, but I think he's driven that into my head more. Really being nasty out there, finishing out my blocks."

Right guard Daryn Colledge said Sitton is one of the most physical linemen on the team and one of the most physically imposing. He plays nasty, not dirty. There's a difference.

"It's getting that knockdown block. Or keeping him away from the quarterback," said Colledge. "It's getting extra shots in and wearing the defense down. It's playing with the most physical nature as you possibly can within the rules.

"And that's tough because it's one of those things that's hard to practice because you don't want to do it to your own teammate. You don't want to take those extra shots on a Cullen Jenkins or a Clay Matthews."

Second-year nose tackle B.J. Raji appreciated mixing it up with Sitton, however, especially in training camp. It prepared Raji to assume the starting nose position this year.

"He's one of the best linemen we have," said Raji. "He's helped my game, my approach, my strike, because he has good feet and he will exploit anything that that you mess up on. He really pushed me, especially from a pass rushing standpoint. He's a good player. Real good."

After watching Sitton in some Packers games, O'Leary said he has worked on his whole game.

"I think the biggest thing with him is concentration and taking care of the responsibility part," said O'Leary, who was a coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings a few years back. "That's where he had to learn. He obviously got a lot better at that because if you don't in that league, you won't be there long."

Campen said Sitton's work on technique is also showing up. He's playing with his hands inside and with a good base, which allows for the nasty and physical stuff.

No one is perfect, of course. At Chicago, Sitton got a flag. And on special teams, Julius Peppers got by him to block a field-goal attempt.

But the easygoing, don't-over-analyze-everything Sitton didn't freak out.

"Honestly, nothing seems to faze him," center Scott Wells said. "If he has a bad play, it rolls right off his back. That's huge. If he knows he made a mistake, he fixes it. He moves on. He doesn't really harp on it and carry him to the next play. He keeps a level head. He jokes around and clowns around and at the end of the day he blocks his guy more often that not. That's an important combination."

Sitton did have a successful off-season by watching what he ate and trimming down. He lost about 10 pounds. He plays comfortably at about 318 now with a quicker first step.

"He's converted six or seven pounds to muscle," said Campen.

Close observers of the huddle might also see Sitton as an emerging leader. It is not unusual to see him talking to the other 10 men in the huddle after Aaron Rodgers has given the play during a long TV timeout.

"He's starting to take on a leadership role and he's doing things the right way," said Campen.

There are, yet again, questions about the line this week at Washington. Sitton may play with a new right tackle by his side if veteran Mark Tauscher can't go. It is nothing Sitton frets about.

"We're fine with whoever. We're good," said Sitton. "I just have faith with everybody that's in that room."