2013 NFL Draft Profile: Joe Madsen, Center, West Virginia Mountaineers

6'4" 310 lbs

For the past 4 years of Mountaineer football there's been one certainty, Joe Madsen starting at center. In the four years since his redshirt season, Madsen started every game except two bowl games that he was academically ineligible for.

Playing in the two different spread systems employed by the Mountaineers, Madsen was usually asked to shotgun the snap back to the quarterback. He has quick lateral movement that he uses to make up for his somewhat short (for an NFL lineman) 30" arms. Madsen was very adept at making the line calls for protections and his absence was painfully evident in the season ending Pinstripe Bowl.

As far as his academic transgressions:

"I messed up. I should have been going to classes and doing the right thing," Madsen told TribLive Radio the week of the Senior Bowl. "Things didn’t go my way, and I screwed up a little bit."

"There were some family things," Madsen said. "My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer before the season. I didn’t focus in. I dug myself a hole, and I couldn’t get out of it.

"I talked to all the guys and told them I was sorry. There’s still real good relationships down there." - Tribune Live Radio via WVU Pros

Madsen was named to the Rimington Award watch list before his senior season in which he garnered All Big 12 honors and an invite to participate in the Senior Bowl

Several scouting reports list Madsen's strength as an area that needs improvement (25 reps at the combine) to succeed at the NFL level as he tends to need to get lower on the stronger players and would be susceptible to swim moves. Madsen is projected to be a late round pick at center.

Joe has a big personality and likes to have fun as you can see in the videos above and below. One of his more memorable exploits was running around the halls at WVU's first Big 12 Media Days with the Mountaineer mascot doing the "Let's GOOOOOO" "MOUNTAINEERS" cheer.