Corey Hilliard, Jason Fox rooting for each other as battle for RT job looms

One of the Detroit Lions' most interesting position battles in training camp will be at right tackle. With Gosder Cherilus gone, the Lions need to find a new starter, and Corey Hilliard and Jason Fox are expected to be the main guys competing for that spot.

What's so interesting about this particular position battle is that Fox and Hilliard are both lacking experience. Hilliard has only made five career starts, whereas Fox has only played in five career games. Hilliard has been a reliable backup, while Fox is really an unknown given his injury issues in the past.

In training camp, Hilliard and Fox will sort of be rivals on the field in the sense that only one of them can win the starting job and get a chance to actually play for a change. That doesn't mean they will act like rivals, though. The two players are friends, and they plan on continuing to root for each other even though they will be competing for a starting spot. From the Free Press:

"Me and Corey are great friends," Fox said. "I root for him when he’s in, he roots for me when I’m in. We’re pushing each other and we’ll see what happens in training camp. …

"That’s a long process. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Just go out, do your best and compete."

"Jason’s good," Hilliard said, "and he’s doing real good."

There's a certain camaraderie that exists with Hilliard and Fox despite them being in a position battle. Both players obviously want to be the one who gets to start, but it's nice to see that there is such a high level of respect between them.