I truly hope your favorite team needs a center next spring. This is an outstanding center class with the top three players on this list all manning the keystone of the offensive line. Now, they may not all declare, as there's a few underclassmen in the mix, but it's deep even after that. If you are looking for a guard, though, I'd hold off for my tackle rankings. This true guard class is pretty lackluster at the moment.

Note: Only prospects who played primarily guard or center last fall were included in these rankings. Tackle converts will be included in later rankings. Here are my top 10 interior offensive line prospects (ordered from No. 1 to No. 10) ahead of the college football season.

Positional rankings: EDGE • DT • LB • CB • S • IOL • OT • TE • RB • WR • QB

Note: ⭐️ represents each player's 247Sports star rating as a high school recruit

• Player type: Scheme diverse center
• Room for improvement: Exposing shoulder pads
• Early grade: Early Day 2 

Some players just look like the game comes easier to them than others. That perfectly describes Connor Lew. Only two years into his college career, Lew already plays with the poise and control of an NFL vet. Even just a shade over 300 pounds, Lew's play strength never felt like an issue, and it will likely continue to get better until he declares. His tape reminds me a little of early career Frank Ragnow where his steadiness against SEC competition was such that you knew it would work out in the league.

• Player type: Outside zone/pulling center
• Room for improvement: Muscle mass
• Early grade: Day 2

Parker Brailsford has had obvious NFL talent since he first stepped on the field for Washington in 2023. The only question is when would his frame fill out enough to deal with NFL power. Back then he was listed at 275 pounds and still was a key part to the Huskies offensive success on their College Football Playoff National Championship game run. He followed Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, where his play strength issues got exposed more consistently in the SEC. You can't teach his quick feet and frenetic hand usage, though, as I'll bet on those traits to win out in the end.

• Player type: Outside zone/pulling center
• Room for improvement: Experience
• Early grade: ??? 

Ranking Kade Pieper this high is probably a little nuts on my part considering he was a 275-pound backup last fall. My reasoning is the following: 1) His 108 snaps were that good, and 2) He is -- without any hyperbole -- the best athlete I've scouted along the offensive line. According to Bruce Feldman's Freaks List, Pieper recorded a 4.13-second shuttle and 37.4-inch vertical jump. That would be the fastest shuttle and second-highest vertical jump in NFL Scouting Combine history if replicated in Indy. He's obviously young with a frame that needs filling out, but it's all there for him to be a Tyler Linderbaum clone in time.

• Player type: Scheme versatile guard
• Room for improvement: Recognizing games
• Early grade: Day 2

Olaivavega Ioane has an ideal guard frame and plays with ideal posture. You won't see him diving out into contact or ducking to get the first punch in pass pro. What really makes me buy into his potential, though, is watching his hand usage. He has exceptionally quick hands for a bulky guard that are active in replacing. Those are the kind of building blocks you can mold into a high-end pass protecting guard in the league..

• Player type: Zone center
• Room for Improvement: Play strength
• Early Grade: Late day 2

Jake Slaughter is the elder statesman of this center class with four years of college experience and two years as a starter under his belt. What he lacks in traits, Slaughter makes up for in grit, awareness and technique. He's more than likely going to find pads against opposing defensive tackles and then fight like heck to sustain that position. He won't move too many people off the ball or chase down linebackers in space, but he'll almost never blow an assignment, either. He may not ever be a Pro Bowler, but Slaughter can start in the league.

• Player type: Gap scheme center with guard versatility
• Room for improvement:
• Early grade: Early Day 3

Few offensive linemen in college football held their own against Michigan's top-15 defensive tackle duo in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant last fall -- Iapani Laloulu was one of them. He's a battler in the middle of Oregon's offensive line. I love watching him go hip-to-hip clearing out the A-gaps in pass protection and in the run game. There's a violence to it that not every center plays with. Of course it helps that Laloulu is a big boy for a center. He's thick from his calves to his neck. That'll play in a movement based run scheme. 

• Player type: Gap-scheme guard
• Room for improvement: Recovering blocks
• Early grade: Early Day 3

Jaeden Roberts is a specimen of a guard. It's rare to see a nearly 330-pounder as put together as the Alabama guard. Anytime I see biceps veins on an offensive lineman, I'm going to watch their tape. Unsurprisingly, he's the most powerful guard in the class. It shows when he's engaged with defensive tackles where manipulating them against their will comes easily for him.

His tape doesn't come without some worries, though. His feet are below-average laterally, and you see struggles with his bend that are worrisome developmentally. It's not uncommon to see him grab onto defenders who have gotten to his edges just to keep himself from going to the turf. It's going to limit him to schemes that rarely ask him to play outside a phone-booth at the next level. 

• Player type: Versatile center/guard
• Room for improvement: Eliminating bad weight
• Early grade: Early Day 3

Wendell Moe Jr. was a starter at left guard the past two seasons for Arizona and looked similar on the end zone cam from a build perspective to teammate and second-rounder Jonah Savaiinaea, sans a few inches in height. That's another way of seeing he's wide. And also like Savaiinaea, Moe is far more athletic than you'd guess at first glance. He really pops off the line of scrimmage in the run game and can surprise opposing defensive tackles. Because of his lack of length, Moe may be a better fit at center in the NFL, but his build could work at, either.

• Player type: Guard who could fill in at tackle
• Room for improvement: Waist-bending
• Early grade: Early Day 3

After four years at Kansas, Ar'maj Reed-Adams was one of the many transfer portal players who started for the Aggies last fall. Unlike many of them, Reed-Adams actually outperformed expectations. He's an extremely savvy run blocker with good enough body control to consistently work his way into ideal positioning. While he may not be anything special athletically, he moves well enough and has plus length to start in the league.

• Player type: Outside zone/pulling center
• Room for improvement: Size
• Early grade: Early Day 3

Logan Jones is the kind of player you wish you could wave a wand and make him grow. He's an outstanding athlete with the kind of technique you'd expect from someone who's started three years at center for Kirk Ferentz.

He's 10th on this list because he's got such a tiny frame by NFL standards. While he technically tips the scales at more than 300 pounds, Jones has thin shoulders and under 31-inch arms that make you worry how he'll handle NFL power at nose tackle. What answers would he have against someone like Dexter Lawrence (not that many NFL centers have them anyways)? There's not a single starting offensive lineman in the NFL with arms that short. He reminds me of former Hawkeyes center Austin Blythe who had 30 ¼-inch arms himself. Blythe was dominant at times at Iowa, but fell to the seventh round because of his frame. He started three seasons with the Rams, who were an outside zone heavy team at the time, but struggled with inconsistency.