Pat Elflein
Center| Ohio State| Senior
Height:6-foot-3*|Weight: *303 pounds
College Stats
2016: Started all 13 games at center; won the 2016 Rimington Award (best center in college football); joined Buckeyes teammate Malik Hooker in becoming school's first pair of consensus All-Americans in one season since Orlando Pace and Eddie George; graduated in May with a degree in communications before closing out his college career
Career:Started 41 of 54 games played, including 28 at guard before moving to center as a fifth-year senior; was named First-Team All-Big Ten as a guard in 2014-15; helped Ohio State win College Football Playoff after the 2014 season, starting the first three games at left guard before moving to right guard for the final 12
Combine Results
40-yard dash: 5.32 seconds
Bench press: 22 reps of 225 pounds
Broad jump: 8 feet, 3 inches
Vertical jump: 23.5 inches
3-cone drill: 7.94 seconds
20-yard shuttle: 4.71 seconds
Profile
Summary:Elflein (pronounced ELF-line) grew up in the Columbus suburbs and was a three-sport athlete (football, wrestling, track and field) at Pickerington North who opted to stay close to home. A foot injury forced a redshirt season in 2012, but worked his way up to a starting position in the 2013 Big Ten Championship. Elflein impressively garnered the Rimington Award in his lone season as a center.
Stacking up: NFL Media analyst Bucky Brooks ranked Elflein as the fourth best guard/center in rankings before the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine. Elflein was unranked by counterpart Mike Mayock in a top five of interior offensive linemen.
'Marquee position': Elflein was asked multiple questions about transitioning from guard to center during his session with reporters at the combine.
"The most challenging [part about switching] would definitely be the mental aspect," Elflein said. "You have to be the confident leader on that line when you're at center. Not just knowing the offense yourself or knowing the defense you're going against, you have to portray your confidence throughout the line to make everyone else feel confident. Just having the ability to do that is huge and probably the toughest thing, portraying the confidence to your line-mates and then going out there and playing like you know what you're doing."
Asked what he most likes about playing center, Elflein said, "Being in control. Being the guy. I think center is like a marquee position. So it's kind of that swagger that goes along with the position that's pretty cool."
