Olu Oluwatimi has this huge advantage in the competition at Seahawks center
I have gone on record several times that rookie center Olu Oluwatimi will get the starting nod for the Seahawks after the bye week. It's beginning to look more and more like that prediction will get smoked in week one, and I couldn't be happier about that. There's a big reason that he may start every game as a rookie, and it isn't just his 6'3", 307-pound frame.
Yes, I'll admit once again that I believe former Lions offensive lineman Evan Brown will earn the Seahawks job at center coming out of training camp but will be supplanted by Olu Oluwatimi after the Hawks' bye in week five. FanSided's own Matt Connor sees Olu as pushing Brown for the role, and eventually supplanting him. I think Brown wins out initially.
The reason is simply experience. Brown has played 27 games at center in the league, plus another 16 at guard last season. Oluwatimim of course, has zero experience in the NFL. And center, as all good 12s know, is the most mentally demanding position on the field. Yeah, some people would say that's the quarterback, but the success of Brett Favre puts that concept to rest.
Oluwatimi has the academic pedigree to lead the Seahawks O-line
Anyway, back to Oluwatimi and Brown. While Brown has a vast advantage in NFL experience, it isn't as if Olu had been playing nickel in college. He was acclaimed as the best center in college by far. Just check his bio on the Wolverine's site for all the lovely bold ink. He won both the Rimington Award and Outland Trophy as a graduate student at Michigan in 2022 as the nation's best center and interior lineman. Not bad accolades, and that's just scratching the surface of his accomplishments.
What interests me - and what I see as his overwhelming advantage - isn't all the hardware on his parents' shelf. No, it's that phrase "graduate student at Michigan". Even on the west coast, the University of Michigan is known as one of the best schools in the country. You don't get into grad school at the U of M simply because you can play ball, no matter how good you are.
To illustrate just what I'm talking about, let's look at the average scores on the GRE for students accepted into Michigan. Yes, 12s, we're about to get - mathy.