NC State offensive line coach Garett Tujague talks about the steps that helped get Packers second-round Anthony Belton ready for the NFL.
When Garett Tujague took over as North Carolina State’s offensive line coach in 2023, he inherited a starting left tackle, Anthony Belton.
Belton has rare gifts at 6-foot-6 and 336 pounds with above-average athleticism. That, however, wasn’t the first thing Tujague wanted to discuss after the Green Bay Packers selected Belton in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday.
“First and foremost, phenomenal kid. Great young man, loves his teammates,” Tujague told Packers On SI this week. “The things I love about him, like loyalty and camaraderie, are big to him.
“Every year I was here, he’d have schools trying to poach him and he never went in the portal. The coach was calling his mom, talking about money, and they’re just a very loyal family, very loyal kid, hard worker. I know for a fact his best football is still ahead of him. He knows how to work, can coach him hard. I think his best football is ahead of him. Great human being. Very good person.”
The Packers got to know Belton as a person during a predraft visit. That got to know him as a player through scouting NC State’s games as well as the Senior Bowl. Like free-agent addition Aaron Banks, Belton fits Green Bay’s mold as a big lineman with movement ability.
“To be able to do the things he does or I’ve seen him do with that body, it’s been fun,” Tujague said. “I just think it’s a rarity. All those guys at that level are pretty good athletes. Some are better than others but, man, for him to be able to move like that and be able to change direction, jump, all those things, be able to play with elite pad level, all those things have been really fun to watch and coach.”
Belton spent his first two years at Georgia Military College and redshirted at NC State in 2021. In 2022, he started eight games at left tackle. Tujague arrived at NC State in 2023 and began molding a complete player.
“He’s obviously extremely athletic, strong, but I think the biggest growth that he and I had together was just fine-tuning the little things and then his football IQ,” Tujague said. “When I got here, we talked ball and it was, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, Coach, I got you.’ And then I said, ‘OK, well, explain it to me.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, Coach, I don’t know what you’re saying.’ Just getting on the board with him and going over what his cues are and just watching ball with him and having that football IQ go from maybe a 1 or 2 to a 9 [on a 10 scale] in two years.”
Before, Tujague said, Belton might not know where the tight end was lining up on any given play. Now, Belton can look at the secondary and know if they’re playing Cover-2 or man, and what that might mean for how the defensive front is going to attack.
“His football IQ, he went from a typical junior-college kid to understanding schemes, making calls to help the center identify where pressure was coming from and anticipating movement in the run game,” Tujague continued. “His IQ just skyrocketed. I think that would probably be the growth. And then literally just working on his footwork and being as solid and as sound as he could be on his footwork and hand placement was a big, big, big adjustment when I got here.”
Belton is still relatively new to the game. For as much as he improved last season – PFF cut his pressures-allowed count from 22 allowed in 2023 to 12 in 2024 – Tujague thinks there’s another gear.
“Just having a total awareness of what everybody’s doing on the field” is the next step, he said. “Some kids have been playing football since they were 4 years old, and he really didn’t start playing until high school and had to go the junior-college route. I think those are all good things as far as building toughness.
“I think it’s the most developmental position, maybe outside of quarterback. Just to be able to continue that growth as far as being able to anticipate, I think he’ll do OK. I don’t think it’ll be much of a learning curve as far as the speed and power that the NFL has, but having a good grip on the Packers’ offense and being able to anticipate at that next level, I think those are going to be strengths of his.”
Almost all of Belton’s snaps at NC State came at left tackle during the games. However, Tujague made a point to cross-train him at right tackle to get him ready for the NFL.
“I’ve talked to a lot of guys in the NFL and they say it usually takes a guy a year to become natural at it,” he said. “So, I started training him as a junior. You know he’s got the athleticism to play in the National Football League, so you want to be able to give him his best chance to do either right or left.”
So, there’d be days where 75 percent of Belton’s practice reps would come at left tackle to get him ready or Saturdays, and the other 25 percent would come at right tackle to get him ready for future Sundays.
While Belton worked “very little” at guard, Tujague thought that transition wouldn’t be too difficult.
“I think he has the power and the nastiness to play inside, but the finesse and athleticism to play on the edge,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll struggle with that at all. Working combination blocks in the run game, it’s the same playing inside or outside. And then, obviously, I think he adds value for those athletic three-techniques in the NFL that could be D-ends. He’ll be able to hold his own there in the run game and pass pro if he gets moved inside.”
NC State has produced a steady stream of NFL offensive linemen. Beyond the obvious of his athletic gifts, why will Belton be a success in the NFL?
“His eagerness to learn is going to separate him,” Tujague said. “He takes a lot of pride in knowing what to do and when to do it. And that’s changed since when I first got here. I think his ability to understand the playbook and master that, I think that’s what’s going to get him on the field early and playing.
“And again, he’s a freak athlete at that size. You just don’t see that at that size what he can do. I think the fact that Packers are interested in him enough to draft him in the second round, they’ll make sure he gets what he needs.”