Arizona State Sun Devils center Garth Gerhart is projected by many NFL analysts to be the a top-10 center prospect in this year's draft class. He went to the 2012 NFL Combine hoping to improve that stock. After the completion of his drills, he is in the middle of the pack of potential rookie centers.
Gerhard was measured at 6-foot-1 and 1/4, which makes him the second shortest of all centers entering the draft as he's less than an inch taller than Michigan's David Molk, and he weighed in at 305 pounds, making him the third lightest center in this year's class. His arm length of 33 and 3/8 inches was the longest in this year's class of centers, though.
Unfortunately, Gerhard's smaller size didn't transfer into a faster 40 time. Of the four centers that ran the 40-yard dash, Gerhard's time of 5.44 was the slowest as the fastest was Baylor's Philip Blake's time of 5.09. His vertical leap of 30.5 inches was tied for the highest, though, and his shuttle time of 4.65 was tied for second fastest. Perhaps the most important measurement for any offensive lineman is their bench press reps. Gerhard did 25 reps on the bench press which was in the middle of the road among centers. It was better than Wisconsin's Peter Konz's 18 but not anywhere close to Molk's 41.
For more on the Sun Devils, visit House of Sparky, and for more on the combine and draft, head to Mocking The Draft.