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Nick Mangold
OC | (6'3", 300, 5.05) | OHIO STATE

Scouts Grade: 91
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Strengths: Is tall, has adequate bulk and room to grow. Shows better upper body strength than lower body strength. He has adequate initial pop with his hand punch. Shows some ability to jar defenders with initial contact. He has great speed for his size. Comes out of his stance quickly and is fast on pulls and downfield blocks. He shows good balance and body control in pass pro. Plays with good leverage and knee bend. He is competitive and tough at the POA. A fist-fighter type that takes good angles, gets in position and battles to finish. His hands are very strong, which helps him to sustain once he has locked on. Shows the consistent ability to reach the second-level on time. He has a terrific mental capacity. One of the smartest offensive linemen in this year's class. Does an excellent job with line calls. He is durable and reliable. A hard worker on-and-off the field.

Weaknesses: Shows good size potential but still needs to add bulk and improve his lower-body strength. He is fast but lacks ideal COD skills. Will reach the second level but has some trouble hitting the moving target in space. He doesn't possess overwhelming bulk and will have some matchup problems against massive two-gap NT types. He plays with good leverage but lacks an ideal base. Gets driven back into the pocket at times versus powerful bull rushers. Is not an overpowering phone booth blocker.

Overall: Mangold served as a backup during his true freshman season in 2002. He took over as a fulltime starter during his sophomore season in 2003 and has been a fulltime starter since. As a junior in 2004, Mangold earned second team All-Big 10 honors. He started all 12 games at center for the Buckeyes as a senior in 2005. Mangold will need to continue to improve his lower body strength in order to match up better versus bigger, stronger NT's in the NFL. However, he possesses the frame to add bulk and has the work ethic to do so. Mangold also owns all the other physical and mental abilities that it takes in order to develop into a very good starting center in the NFL and very soon. Mangold is clearly the best center prospect in the 2006 class and we expect him to come off the 2006 draft board in the late in the first round or early in the second round.