Mike D's draft rankings, centers and guards: Big bodies to build the line

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Scroll below for Mike D's draft rankings and projections for both center and guard, starting with the guys in the middle.

Also check out:

- Mike D's TE rankings
- Mike D's WR rankings
- Mike D's first-round mock/player rankings

CENTER RANKINGS

1. CONNOR LEW, C, Auburn

Mike's take: “A really good athlete, gets his arms and hands on you quick and he’s a good leverage player. Man, he can catch that inside blitzer really well. Very physical player at the point of attack and man, technically there’s not a lot wrong with Connor Lew, but because you’re not sure how quickly he can come back from the ACL injury ... but before the ACL injury, he was a first round pick grade. That’s how good Connor Lew was, and he was a tremendous football player at the University of Auburn. You hated to see it happen to him but man, he’s a guy that’s got a big future ahead of him, because of his technical skills, his smarts, his ability to calm down a quarterback. He’s really good at making all the calls to the other four offensive linemen and to the tight end and I don’t see a lot of flaws in him from a technique standpoint.“

Projection: Late 2nd to early 3rd round

2. JAKE SLAUGHTER, C, Florida

Mike's take: “A big, 6-5, 315-pound center. Normally centers aren’t that tall, but man, he can play. Excellent run-blocker, a very physical run-blocker, also at the point of attack, really is good in the handfighting part of the game. You can see it and fighting off double teams when they try to get people inside to try to just break everything up. Jake Slaughter does a really nice job, one of the best technicians in this draft class and it’s really good at the center position, not that they’ll have one that’ll be taken in the first round or even could well be in the second round, but as a technician, Jake Slaughter is really good.”

Projection: Round 3

3. LOGAN JONES, C, Iowa

Mike's take: “The Dave Remington award winner. He’s a former defensive lineman that got switched over to the offensive line at Iowa. You know one thing, when you play for Kirk Ferentz, you know how to play offensive line. He is a really good technician, really does it well, bending his knees, getting into his blocks quickly. He’s gotten much better as a pass-protector, has always been a really good run-blocker and man, he’s a guy that has started the last two years for the Hawkeyes, so again, a former defensive lineman moved to center and he mastered the position and real quick.”

Projection: Round 3

4. Sam Hecht, C, Kansas State

Mike's take: “Great story, Sam was a walk-on at Kansas State. I think he probably weighed 210 pounds when he first got there, has put on a lot of weight, has been a 2-year starter, got a scholarship entering his junior year. What a tremendous athlete for a center, of how his ease of movement out on the field with his feet and his hands are so coordinated. Now, you’d like for him to be a little bit stronger, have a little bit more weight in the lower body, but he is also a really good technician, especially in the pass-blocking phase of things, and he’s a really solid to good run-blocker. Physically getting stronger in the lower body will be a key for him.”

Projection: Late Day 2 to early Day 3

5. BRIAN PARKER II, C, Duke

Mike's take: “Brian actually had 32 starts in college football, never at center. He’s played right tackle, left tackle, but his deal is I’m going to play center in the NFL. So, he’s a conversion guy. ... Always been a really good technician and a much above average athlete to play that tackle position, man, he gets his hands on you real quick and you’d like to see him get physically a little bit stronger, but he is a really good player and again, we’re talking about Round 4, possibly early in Round 5.”

Projection: Early to mid Day 3

6. JAMES BROCKERMEYER, C, Miami

Mike's take: “He was a young man that I remember Coach O and the gang there, they were trying to get him to come to LSU and he decided no, I’m going to go to Alabama. He ends up there, transfers to TCU, plays for Sonny there for a few years and then transfers to Miami. I’d say of all these guys he’s maybe the most undersized of the centers. He’s right at 6-3, in the 280 range, but you saw it, he was an anchor in the middle and you talk about a tough guy and a mean guy, James Brockermeyer is it. Here’s the crazy part, I scouted his dad, Blake, he was a first-round pick in 1995 coming out of the University of Texas, first round pick of the Carolina Panthers.”

Projection: Round 5

GUARDS

1. OLAIVAVEGA 'Vega' IOANE, OG, Penn State

Mike's take: “He would be the one guard, pure guard, that’s going to be off the board and he could be a top 20 pick. If he had played tackle, it ain’t even no question of how good he is as a player. He’s a plug-and-play guy, and as we had talked about, he’s the one guy that one GM told me if I had to start a game tomorrow, he could play as a starting lineman in the NFL at his position.”

Projection: Mid first round

2. CHASE BISONTIS, OG, Texas A&M

Mike's take: “Big, physical, tough hombre guy. Man, he gets good movement as a run-blocker, he’s gotten better as a pass-protector. He’s not this real long-armed guy, but man, he gets his hand on you and you’re in for a battle. He’ll battle you all day. Really, really tough guy. As a freshman he started 12 games at right tackle for Texas A&M. Then they kicked him inside and he started at left guard for the last two years
…
“A little bit of technique work he’s going to need some work on as a pass-protector, but man, I love his toughness, his physicality, his ability to move people off the ball and he brings it to you. Great effort each and every snap.”

Projection: Late Round 1 to early Round 2

3. KEYLAN RUTLEDGE, OG, Georgia Tech

Mike's take: “He don’t take no crap off nobody. That’s all I can tell you. Each play he brings it and I think his postseason play helped him a lot. To show that he could pass protect in an offense, you think about Georgia Tech, you don’t think about them being a prolific pitch and catch game, but he showed he understands how to play it really, really well and he’s a much better technician than you might give him credit for as a pass-blocker.”

Projection: Round 2

4. GENNINGS DUNKER, OG, Iowa

Mike's take: “If you watched him postseason, combine, the mullet, OK, you’ve got that long mullet. … Played at Iowa, so you know one thing, really a good technician. Kurt Ferenz, he knows how to recruit offensive linemen and they are well schooled, really, really well schooled. He’s a very good run-blocker. He’s gotten much better as a pass protector. You can see he’s starting to get much more coordinated with his hands on you and his feet moving.”

Projection: Late round 2

5. CALEB TIERNAN, OG, Northwestern

Mike's take: “He’s played tackle at Northwestern. I don’t know if he can stay at … right tackle. I think they’ll kick him inside to guard, but a big, long, rangy guy that is real physical at the point of attack, man, when he gets his pads down and gets into you he is a really good run-blocker and he’s got some flexibility as a guy in the pass protection part of the game, but I think a lot of teams really believe his position would be either left guard or right guard in the National Football League.”

Projection: Late day 2

6. EMMANUEL PREGNON, OG, Oregon

Mike's take: “He’s a bit stiff. Man, he gets it done. I’d like to see him become a little bit more of a flex player, body-wise, but that’s just the way he’s built. He’s not going to be this super flexible guy. Really good pass protector, and you can see, pow, man, he gets his hands on your real quickly and then he starts to move his feet, but when he doesn’t get his hands on you quickly, that’s when he gives up some leakage. … With the right offensive line coach you can teach him to align getting his hands on you and his feet at the same time. Sometimes … he gets his hands on you but then the feet don’t move quite quick enough. That’s why there’s a little stiffness with him in the lower body, but he’s a really good football player and he gets the job done on a team that threw the football a lot.”

Projection: Late Day 2