Name: Zach Tom

School: Wake Forest

Year: rSr

Position: Offensive Tackle

Measurables: 6’4’, 304 lbs.

General Info:

Tom is originally from Prairieville, Louisiana, and was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, where he also participated in the shot put.
The tackle redshirted his true freshman year in 2017, before playing in 12 games as a redshirt freshman the following year.
Tom started all 13 games for Wake Forest in 2019 as a center, before moving to left tackle from the 2020 season.
In 2021, Tom was named a second team All-American, earned First Team All-ACC honors and was also named the Jim Tatum Award winner, which is given to the top senior student-athlete in the ACC.

Positional Skills:

Strengths
From a physical standpoint, there are many features which make Tom an attractive prospect. He tested extremely well and posted a 9.59 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) out of 10, including ‘elite’ scores for speed, explosion and agility.
Tom plays with good knee bend and his stature, a little undersized at 6’4’, allows him to play with natural leverage.
In pass protection, Tom’s athleticism really shines. If a rusher wants to get into a footwork contest with him, they won’t like the result. Tom can redirect with ease and is able to gear up and down to keep pace with his opponent.
Tom copes well with speed rushers and doesn’t allow them to get the edge. His athleticism also gives him the ability to recover when he does get beat initially.
You’d expect Tom to give up more ground than he does against power rushers. His anchor is good and he is able to dig his heels in when necessary. Tom also showed some strength in his hands once engaged with an opponent.
Tom’s pass sets are solid and he is not guilty of oversetting, trusting his athleticism to get the job done if a rusher tries to take him on outside.
In the run game, Tom’s physical makeup allows him to easily get to the second level as well as execute pulling assignments. He is effective on combo blocks and is also able to wall off defenders to open alleys for his running back.
Tom’s intelligence as an academic standout will stand him in good stead entering the NFL, as will his versatility, having played at both tackle and center.

Weaknesses
Despite Tom’s athletic strengths, he could also be deemed a poor size for the tackle position in terms of both height and weight.
A knock on Tom is that he doesn’t really control his opponent with his hands. He can be late to get his hands involved in the rep or sometimes just uses one arm.
More skilled or physical rushers which the NFL will present could take advantage of that, and in general, the worry with Tom will be that more bruising rushers could bully him.
He is also not a people-mover in the run game, which could be an issue in situations when a power run is required or in short yardage situations.

Fit with the Packers:
The Packers need to address the offensive tackle position in the 2022 NFL Draft, and Tom could be what they’re looking for.
You would expect Tom to pick up the NFL playbook quickly and he could compete to be Green Bay’s starting right tackle entering his rookie season.
Tom has the athleticism the Packers covet, as well as the versatility to kick inside if necessary.
He has a lot of the traits you can’t coach and his athleticism is a real plus. Tom just feels like a Packer, and the team may well target him early on day three or even on day two of the Draft.