MICHAEL JORDAN GETTING COMFORTABLE IN NEW ROLE AS OHIO STATE'S CENTER
Michael Jordan didn’t know until this summer that he could end up being Ohio State’s new starting center this season.
Throughout spring practices, Ohio State’s plan was to keep Jordan at left guard – the position at which he started every game for the past two seasons – as Brady Taylor, Josh Myers and Matthew Burrell competed to replace Billy Price at center.
But after neither Taylor nor Myers was able to seize a stronghold on the job, and Burrell transferred out of the program to Sam Houston State, while Malcolm Pridgeon emerged as another strong candidate to start at left guard, Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa approached Jordan about the possibility of moving to the middle of the line.
Meeting with the media on Wednesday for the first time since making the move to center, Jordan said Studrawa left the decision up to him. Jordan agreed to make the move, though, because he felt it was the best interest of his team.
“He wasn’t going to force me to do it, so it was my choice, and I ultimately chose to play center,” Jordan said. “Just the fact that we can have the five best guys out there at all times.”
With only a few months between finding out he would move to center and Saturday’s season opener against Oregon State, Jordan had to adjust quickly – and it certainly was a significant adjustment – to playing a new position that comes with the added responsibility of snapping the ball and directing the rest of the offensive line.
Playing center is also more challenging, Jordan said, because it requires the offensive lineman to be ready to block even quicker.
“It’s much faster, because the guy’s right in front of you,” Jordan said. “You have a little bit more space to come off the ball at left guard, and even more space at left tackle – or right guard or right tackle – so the guy’s right there and you really have to be quick.”
The transition wasn’t as hard as it could have been, however, because of the way Ohio State coaches its offensive linemen to be prepared to play positions other than their own.
“If you’re playing offensive line at Ohio State, your job is to know all five positions,” said Jordan, who is in his junior year.
Jordan certainly has big footsteps to follow, as he’s the third straight Ohio State starting center to move into that role after previously starting at guard, and each of the previous two – Price last year, and Pat Elflein in 2016 – went on to win the Rimington Trophy as college football’s best center.
He says that motivates him to try to be one of college football’s best centers himself.
“It motivates me every day to make sure my snaps are good, and make sure that I’m doing my assignments, and make sure I’m organizing the O-line, and make sure that I have everything right,” Jordan said.
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