The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Tanor Bortolini.
Bortolini is a fascinating center prospect as you project and transition him to the next level, given his traits profile and what he puts on tape.
Bortolini, despite being more than 6-foot-4 and more than 300 pounds, looks much smaller on tape and his shorter than desired arms clearly show up when you watch and evaluate him. Bortolini is not a strong power OL who can consistently move defensive lineman back, showing a lack of power on contact.
He was at his best in the zone run game when he could move, climb and seal and in the gap scheme run game when he was used as a back blocker to seal the back side defensive tackle. Bortolini was efficient in his execution in the run game, with his high-level competitiveness constantly showing up as he battled and fought on every snap with strong hands and active feet.
While you won’t describe Bortolini as a good athlete for the interior offensive line, he consistently showed the needed movement to mirror and re-direct in pass protection. Bortolini is a somewhat difficult projection to the NFL because he lacks the athletic and physical traits you ideally want to see and there are clear plays in which his limitations show up, especially versus power.
Yet there is a kind of awkward efficiency to his game that you see the more tape you watch. The question at the next level is how he will handle the much better one-technique and zero-technique defensive tackles that he will face and if he can survive and be successful in that environment.
Bortolini played four years at Wisconsin starting all 12 games at center in the 2023 season. He got experience playing guard before settling in at center for his final season.
There were snaps versus Iowa in which Bortolini physically struggled to block DT Logan Lee. That’s where his lack of size and strength came into play. Bortolini was at his best on Braelon Allen's 30-yard zone run versus Illinois when he comfortably got to his second-level landmark with good balance and body control. He sealed the linebacker to the outside with body position and leverage.
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