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Washington Redskins guard Arie Kouandjio blocks during an NFL preseason game against the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 13, 2015.

(AP Photo)

Guard Arie Kouandjio played one snap with the Washington Redskins' offense during his first NFL season.

Kouandjio earned All-American recognition from the American Football Coaches Association, Sports Illustrated and USA Today while playing for Alabama in the 2014 season, and the Redskins took him in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. But his rookie campaign was practically a redshirt season.

"It was really hard," Kouandjio said during an appearance on CSN's Mid-Atlantic's "Redskins Nation." "But being at Alabama, I learned a lot of life lessons. One was patience there, too. Here, I was ready mentally for it. Basically, my biggest focus was getting better last year and getting better little by little every day, and I believe firmly that if you focus on that, eventually everything is going to come together. I've put in a lot of work in the offseason, and I'm ready for my seat at the table."

At Alabama, Kouandjio had to overcome knee injuries that wrecked his 2011 season to become a two-year starter at left guard.

During Washington's first week of Organized Team Activities last week, Kouandjio got some work with the first-team offense. The Redskins start their second week of OTAs on Tuesday.

Kouandjio has been working at left guard, along with Spencer Long and Josh LeRibeus at the question-mark position in Washington's offensive line.

Shawn Lauvao began 2015 as Washington's left guard, but his season ended after three games because of ankle and foot injuries. Since then, he's had five surgeries and won't be back on the field until training camp.

Long filled the position for the rest of the 2015 season. But at OTAs last week, Long also worked at center, opening an opportunity for Kouandjio to get some reps with the first-teamers.

Although he played left guard at Alabama and is working there for Washington, Kouandjio said he has the versatility that NFL offensive linemen must have.

"I can play anything," Kouandjio said. "It's just a matter of where the team needs me."

Kouandjio's offseason preparation included boxing, but he did more than hit the bag.

"One thing that (my trainer) had done in this offseason, he would put a bunch of little kids that come into there and they would just work on hitting me," Kouandjio said, "and I would work on dodging them. Works on agility and stuff like that."

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