Jets' Mangold sets standard at center

Nick Mangold has the fame - two consecutive Pro Bowl selections, and now he has shared a recent Sports Illustrated cover with the Jets' cover boy, Mark Sanchez.

Mangold has the fortune - the seven-year extension he signed a few weeks ago that could be worth as much as $55 million, which makes him the highest-paid center in the NFL.

He is acknowledged everywhere as one of, if not the best, centers in the game, a remarkable achievement for a 26-year-old at a position where recognition doesn't come until a player is in his late 20s or even his 30s.

The question is: How did Mangold get this good this fast?

Intelligence

Wherever Mangold has been, his football smarts have stood out. "Right when he got here, he had a great knack for picking things up in a hurry," said Jim Bollman, Ohio State's offensive line coach and offensive coordinator.

Mangold arrived from Archbishop Alter High School in Centerville, Ohio and, rare for a top offensive line prospect, did not redshirt as a freshman. Mangold played sparingly that first season, a national championship year, and stepped in as the starting center as a sophomore.

"Most guys, through my experience, it takes them until the end of their second year playing to really get it," Bollman said. "You need a couple of springs before the light really goes on. Nick was ahead of that schedule for sure when he was here, and I don't see where it's changed much now that he's in the NFL."

When Bill Callahan arrived to the Jets before the 2008 season to coach the offensive line, Mangold already had two pro seasons' experience.

In reviewing video of those first two seasons, Callahan saw what Bollman saw.

"What he can see, visualize and be able to communicate in a very short period of time, we're talking about seconds, and be able to get out adjustment calls, that really caught me," Callahan said. "That really captivated me - this guy, the ability he has to see things, his vision is off the charts."

Technique

"He's a technician," says Kris Jenkins, Mangold's teammate and practice foe at nose tackle the last two seasons. "Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it takes a special guy to block me one-on-one. He knows where to be and how to get things done."

Bollman said Mangold's ability with his hands has always been his strength, in addition to good balance and a powerful lower body. It's not easy for a 305-pound lineman to look fluid in the middle of all the bodies crashing around on the interior of the line.

"It's very smooth - where a lot of guys are jittery and bouncing all over the place, he's very smooth and very calculated and can see things fast," Callahan said.

Guts

"To be a good center, where you're the first guy who makes contact and the guy who everyone plays off, you have to have that confidence to make a call at the line and be heard by everyone," Giants center Shaun O'Hara said. "You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don't have the confidence to see a defense and make an adjustment, you're not really doing your job."

Mangold learned that early on with Bollman. "He wasn't just showing us what to do and where to be, but why we were doing it," Mangold said. "That's been a big help to me as my career's gone on."

Mangold knows where all his linemen need to be against a given defensive front and isn't afraid to make the key changes at the line. "Who's got the courage to see something and make that call?" Bollman said. "That's what separates the good from the not so good."

Responsibility

When you've got the smarts, the physical skills and the confidence, you're going to be asked to do as much as you can.

That's what Rex Ryan, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Callahan have done with Mangold, whose skill set is essentially the reason that the Jets were comfortable with Sanchez stepping in as a rookie. It wasn't just the veterans around Sanchez on offense, it was primarily that Mangold, who had made a seamless transition to pro ball and started all 16 games as a rookie with Chad Pennington, then all 16 games with Brett Favre, could shoulder a heavier burden of making adjustments and shifts at the line of scrimmage, something a veteran quarterback does.

"We just kept loading him up," Callahan said. "You can give him more and put more on him, and less on the quarterback, than most centers are accustomed to."