Versatile offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini accepts Senior Bowl invite
MADISON — Offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini, who started all 12 games at center for Wisconsin this season, has accepted a Reese's Senior Bowl invitation. That move likely foreshadows Bortolini's decision to enter the 2024 NFL Draft, though he has yet to make that news official.
Bortolini was initially expected to man one of the guard spots on Wisconsin's offensive front in 2023. But as transfer center Jake Renfro slowly worked his way back from a torn ACL, and then suffered another setback, Bortolini took the majority of the reps at center throughout spring and fall practices.
Bortolini has been a plug-and-play puzzle piece for Wisconsin's offensive line since he stepped foot on campus. In 2022, when the Badgers rolled out eight different starting combinations along the offensive line, he started four games at right guard, six games at left guard and played center for the bowl game.
The year prior, the majority of his snaps came at right tackle. He also saw occasional snaps at both guard spots. Bortolini's freshman year, the Covid-truncated 2020 season, he took a redshirt but started two games at center.
Bortolini's versatility is likely the first thing that will stand out about him in the eyes of NFL talent evaluators. The only position along the offensive line he hasn't played is left tackle, and he's been a starting-caliber player at each of the other four positions.
Bortolini can move bodies in the running game and is a stout pass-blocker — he only allowed three sacks across 962 career pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. The center's most salient issue this season was errant snaps, a problem that gradually improved as the year went on but still reared its head from time to time. NFL franchises will likely view the lineman as a guard at the next level.
With Bortolini's expected departure, Wisconsin's center position is in flux. Renfro was supposedly available as an emergency option late in the season, but he never saw the field and now hasn't seen game action in two years. The nature of his future in Madison remains to be seen. What's more, the man listed as Bortolini's backup at center for most of the season, Dylan Barrett, entered the transfer portal on Nov. 29.
The Badgers signed a center in the class of 2024, three-star Pennsylvania native Ryan Cory. Four-star prospect Emerson Mandell, the top player in Minnesota, is also a projected interior offensive lineman in the class.
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