Colorado State's Weston Richburg has come a long way in the past decade, and his trip could end with him being the first or second center selected in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Richburg is "ready-made to plug and play," NFL Media draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on the NFL Network, calling Richburg one of the most impressive players during Reese's Senior Bowl practices this week.
"I loved everything about what he did this week -- the balance in pass protection, the toughness he displayed in the run game creating some movement at the point of attack," Jeremiah said.
Richburg, who started all 49 games in his college career after redshirting as a true freshman in 2009, measured 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds during Monday's weigh-in.
"I think he's a guy that could come in and play right away at center," Jeremiah said. "I also think he can play guard if you needed him to."
Richburg showed off his versatility at Colorado State, starting the bulk of his games at center -- a position he never had played until he arrived at CSU -- but also seeing duty at guard and tackle.
It's hard to believe, considering he is now 300 pounds, but Richburg actually began his playing career as a quarterback. He played quarterback as a 5-10, 150-pound high school freshman, then hurt his knee before his sophomore season. The injury caused him to miss two seasons, and by the time he returned to the field as a senior, he was a 6-4, 260-pound tackle. Colorado State was his only college offer.
That might be because Richburg was from Bushland, Texas, a town of only about 200 near Amarillo, in west Texas. What's amazing is that Richburg is one of two players from Bushland at the Senior Bowl; the other is tight end Crockett Gilmore, who was a year behind Richburg in high school, then followed him to Colorado State.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
