The Bucs had a wrench thrown into their offseason plans early when left guard Ali Marpet – seemingly out of nowhere – announced he was retiring from football. Tampa Bay re-signed guard Aaron Stinnie ahead of free agency, but the team wasn’t done adding to the competition at the position. When the draft rolled around, general manager Jason Licht traded up in the second round to select Central Michigan tackle Luke Goedeke.

Like Marpet and Alex Cappa before him, the smaller-school offensive lineman was drafted to make the switch from tackle to guard for the Bucs. It took a little bit of time for the rookie to get adjusted to the switch, but once he took reps in training camp with the first unit, he never looked back.

Bucs LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On Monday, Goedeke was named the starting left guard for the season opener against the Cowboys, and he’s now ready to make the first start of his career.

“It means a great deal,” Goedeke said. “The coaches obviously trust me, the players do and my goal was to come here and earn that starting job. I’m going in with full confidence and ready to start off the year and hopefully help this team win a championship.”

Bucs assistant head coach and run game coordinator Harold Goodwin had a big part in the starting left guard decision. What he saw out of Goedke throughout camp and the preseason showed him the rookie is ready to handle the responsibilities of the job.

“[He’s shown] a lot of toughness and a lot of athleticism,” Goodwin said. “He learned the system pretty quick, he’s done a great job throughout camp and offseason ball. He just been executing everything at a high level in everything we ask him to do. We did the same thing to Tristan [Wirfs], put him out there and see what happens.”

Goedeke reached out to Marpet after he was drafted to glean any sort of advice he could on the transition from tackle to guard and the move to the pro level. But he has also leaned on his teammates heavily as well. One of the biggest pieces of advice the rookie lineman has held on to is to have a “goldfish mind” and not let one play haunt him all game.

“If you have a bad play, you can’t let that stick in your head,” Goedeke said. “You can’t let that affect the rest of the game.”

Bucs LG Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The second-round pick has shown enough in camp and throughout the preseason that he has the confidence of his teammates to go out and perform at a high level. The grittiness the self-proclaimed “glass eater” plays with has especially caught the eye of Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith, who Goedeke will line up next to.

“He’s great,” Smith said. “He’s very smart. He’s somebody who’s in the film room early, he’s in the film room after, so he definitely puts some time in. I’m more excited just to see how he gets out there and gets going. I’m just happy with how physical he plays – he definitely brings that to the team, which is huge. I’m really excited. He’s more than capable of getting the job done, and I’m rooting for him, obviously. Nothing to worry about there.”

It’s a big vote of confidence for Goedeke, who will have his hands full with Dallas’ speedy defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and linebacker Micah Parsons blitzing in his direction. It will be a big test for the rookie, but this is what the Bucs drafted him for. As long as he hangs onto the advice he’s received from teammates and can stay technically sound, he should put together a solid performance in his first career NFL start.