Syracuse center Ryan Bartholomew is projected to be a late round draft pick or perhaps not even drafted by the NFL in April's NFL Draft. However, today he's getting every chance to make the league notice him on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium at he NFL Combine. Early in the drills, Ryan is posting the best workout numbers so far of any offensive lineman. He has the most reps of the 225 pound bar in the bench press (34) and sits second in the 40-yard dash (4.93 seconds).
NFL Draft Scout has Bartholomew ranked as only the 11th best center available in this draft class, far behind Penn State's Steve Wisniewski (#1) and that's with Florida's Mike Pouncey being rated by NFL Draft Scout as a guard, not center. Bartholomew tips the scales at 6'1" and 302 pounds, although my guess is his pro team will end up putting some additional muscle on him to be able to face those 320+ pound defensive tackles all around the NFL.
The Baltimore Ravens will be looking at the group of centers in Indianapolis this week, as veteran Matt Birk is entering his 14th NFL season and the team needs to begin at least looking for, much less grooming a replacement in the very near future.