Tanor Bortolini rolled into a football camp at the University of Iowa in 2018 hoping to jump-start a recruiting process that had, to that point, been relatively slow.
Not many programs had noticed Bortolini, a standout on offense and defense in Kewaunee, Wisc. – a small town whose eponymous high school graduates, on average, about 80 students a year. He went to a camp at Wisconsin but didn't get much feedback or interest. At Iowa, though, coaches noticed Bortolini. He beat a Hawkeyes commit on a drive block, flashing the sort of talent top college programs seek in offensive linemen.
Iowa coaches, then, showed Bortolini around campus and their facilities.
"Wow, this is the big stage," Bortolini thought.
Only there was a problem.
"Hey," Bortolini was told, "there's no Big Ten linemen that play at 240 pounds."
Bortolini, at that weight, was more than big and strong enough to dominate Wisconsin's Packerland Conference (yes, the Packerland Conference – Kewaune is about 30 miles east of Green Bay). But for one of college football's biggest stages, 240 pounds was not going to cut it.
So Bortolini set out to put on as much weight as possible.
Get the full conversation with Colts center Tanor Bortolini on this week's episode of The Colts Show Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your Indianapolis Colts Podcasts.
All this eating and lifting got Bortolini up to 275 pounds. Scholarship offers rolled in. Eventually, he landed the offer he really wanted – from his home state school, Wisconsin. Committing to the Badgers was easy.
There, Bortolini showed up in 2020 and quickly heard all the lore about a guy who just left Madison: Jonathan Taylor, who a few months prior was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Colts.
"I don't think you understand how good he was," Bortolini's new teammates explained.
"I was like, okay guys," Bortolini said. "How good could he have been?"
Fast-forward to 2024 and 2025, when Bortolini finally was able to team up with Taylor, this time in Indianapolis with the Colts.
"He's that good," Bortolini said.
But if you turn on Taylor's lengthy highlight reel in 2025 – he leads the NFL with 850 rushing yards and 14 total touchdowns through eight games – you'll also see a Bortolini highlight reel. The second-year Colts center retained all the athleticism he possessed at 240 pounds and has combined it with the strength of someone who now weighs in at 303 pounds. He's opened holes for Taylor through reach blocks, and has helped spring the star running back toward overwhelmed safeties by climbing to the second level of a defense and wiping out a linebacker.
"He's amazing on those reach blocks," Taylor said. "I mean, the way he's able to get out and move in space, he's been really awesome this year, and I know he's going to continue to get better. But when you have athletic linemen who can really move in space, it makes it so much easier for you to set up your block. He's been playing at a high level this year."
Bortolini is Pro Football Focus' second-highest graded center (82.7 offensive grade) entering Week 9, and the versatility he has brought to the Colts' run game has fit extremely well with Taylor and his fellow offensive linemen. Bortolini's ability to succeed while blocking a zone run concept or a gap run concept has helped allow the Colts' run game to be unpredictable; because he and Bernhard Raimann, Quenton Nelson, Matt Goncalves and Braden Smith are athletic enough to pull, offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr. can be unpredictable in who's getting into space.
"Some of the things that we've done in the run game with him – getting him out, pulling him, getting up to the second level defenders, has been a big part of our offense," head coach Shane Steichen said. "When that situation happens, and we're allowed to get him out with the fronts we're getting – but I think him out in space has been tremendous. He can move really well for an offensive lineman, and he understands leverage of the defense and where he needs to get to do those things. But yeah, he's been terrific doing that stuff all year."
And from a pass protection standpoint, Bortolini and quarterback Daniel Jones have consistently got the offense into the right protections, allowing Jones to deliver accurate passes with confidence from the pocket.
"He's earned the belief that coach Sparano has in him and we have in him," Nelson said. "He works really hard, he loves the game and he plays extremely hard. He prepares very well, and it's not easy at center — he's got to know a lot of information. And especially as a second year player — he got some starts last year — but he's done a really good job processing the information and getting us in the right calls as an offensive line. And then his play as well, in the run game and pass block, he's been really good for us."
Bortolini this year took over for four-time Pro Bowl center Ryan Kelly, who was the longest-tenured member of the Colts before he signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason. Those were big shoes to fill, Bortolini acknowledged, but he credited Sparano, Nelson, Smith, Raimann, Danny Pinter, etc., with helping him and Goncalves – who took over at right guard this year for Will Fries – seamlessly step into their roles.
"The standard for our group is to be the best in the NFL," Bortolini said. "So when those guys left, the standard doesn't change. We had to step up and rise to the occasion."
Bortolini and Goncalves have certainly risen to the occasion as first-time starters. For Bortolini, he's embraced the grind – this time, of playing offensive line in the NFL.
Seven years ago, the grind involved chugging protein shakes, scarfing down sandwiches and – like a true Wisconsinite – having the occasional bratwurst or basket of cheese curds. It was all part of the process to get to where he wanted to be.
Which, now, has become the starting center of the NFL's top scoring offense, and blocking for a running back who's more than lived up to the hype Bortolini heard back in Madison.
