Breno Giacomini won't be lacking for friends during his rookie season with the Green Bay Packers.
Giacomini, an offensive lineman from Louisville, will join two college teammates in Green Bay's locker room -- quarterback Brian Brohm, whom the Packers drafted in the second round on Saturday, and fellow offensive lineman Jason Spitz, who was a senior at Louisville when Giacomini was a sophomore.
"He likes playing up there, likes the coaching staff, likes the area," Giacomini said of Spitz, who he figures put in a good word for him with the Packers coaches. "He said all great things about being up there."
The Packers took Giacomini in the fifth round on Sunday, with the 150th overall pick. That pick resulted from two trades, with St. Louis and then Minnesota. Green Bay moved down twice, from No. 128 to 137 and then to 150, picking up two seventh-round picks (Nos. 209 and 217) in the process.
Like another Green Bay offensive lineman drafted in Spitz's class two years ago, Tony Moll, Giacomini comes to the Packers as a converted tight end who played only one season in college as a full-time tackle.
Giacomini actually alternated back-and-forth between tight end and tackle for his first three years at Louisville, but the Packers definitely see the 6-foot-7, 300-pounder as a tackle, perhaps on either side. Finding long-term replacements for veteran tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton comes more to the forefront with each passing year.
"We'll play him both at right and left and see how he handles both sides," Campen said. "Being a tight end and having to flip left to right, he's used to that, as Tony was, so we'll see how he does.
"He possesses a high ability to learn. You watch him in his first games all the way to the end, and he improved steadily throughout each season."
In his full season as a starter at tackle last year, Giacomini started all 12 games at right tackle and allowed four sacks and two pressures on 491 pass plays.
He called himself "an intense dude," and that intensity could get him in trouble at times. But Campen likes his passion, much like he does with the lineman the Packers chose 15 picks earlier, Josh Sitton of Central Florida.
"The two kids we just drafted are very, very competitive players," Campen said. "They will go to the whistle and beyond. They're tough, they hustle, they get downfield, they finish blocks.
"They're high-energy, tough people, and they'll bring that type of attitude to our offensive line."
