Center – Mason Cole
While New Orleans Saints first-round pick Cesar Ruiz could be the choice here, we’re going with experience.
Cole is versatile and durable, as we saw in Ann Arbor when he started his first possible game as a true freshman at left tackle before eventually moving inside to center — and back out again to tackle.
A third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals, Cole has played in 32 games, but started in 18 of them — he started all 16 games of his rookie season after AQ Shipley, the starter, tore his ACL, but only in two of the previous.
Still, he has the confidence of his team, and is expected to return to a starting role this year if Shipley doesn’t return to the Cardinals as a free agent.
It would appear with Mason Cole ready to play regularly, the Cardinals are ready to move on from Shipley. Kingsbury repeatedly said last season how important Cole was and how he was basically even with Shipley in training camp and the preseason in terms of competing for the starting job.
Now it appears it is Cole’s job to lose.