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Draft Prospect Who Can Make Most Sudden Bears Impact

With rare maturity and a relationship with the Bears' line coach, Michigan center Cesar Ruiz has everything it takes to walk onto the field and become an instant starter

Every NFL player needs an adjustment period coming out of college because of the talent jump and playing style change.

The length of the adjustment period varies.

There is one player the Chicago Bears could select who could be a Day 1 starter and never need a real adjustment period, although getting the chance to take him is part of the issue.

The other is sue is they have to alter their lineup to get him into it.

The player is Cesar Ruiz, Michigan's center, and the fit for the Bears has to do in part with their new line coach Juan Castillo. He was Michigan's line adviser last year and already has built a good relationship with Ruiz.

Ruiz is an ideal pick for them for so many other reasons even though they have Pro Bowl Cody Whitehair on their roster and another one who was supposed to be the ideal NFL center coming out of a Big Ten school in James Daniels.

"I think a lot of people know that center was my main position, my primary position in college," Ruiz said. "Like I said a couple of years back, I was born to play center, but I'm able to play anything on the interior offensive line. "

The same is true for Daniels, but he didn't quite make the transition to the position on his first attempt last year in his second NFL season. With Ruiz it could be different. In that case, the Bears could have Daniels and Whitehair at the guard spots.

The Bears have done a video interview with Ruiz, according to the website BearReport.com. The problem for the Bears is even getting Ruiz.

"Because if you look at the film, if you look at how I dominate people, if you look at my character, how smart I am, I have everything for a first rounder," Ruiz said. "I'm very confident in myself that I am a first rounder."

And that's a problem for a team without a first-round pick.

Pro Football Focus called Ruiz the best pass-blocking center in the country, and recorded only eight pressures allowed all 2019. He's been called a first-round pick by ESPN's Mel Kiper.

Sports Illustrated has rated Ruiz the 47th best prospect, so if the draft order fell this way the Bears could take him at 43. There are always particular needs for teams that alter draft order and it would seem unlikely a player of this character and experience would get past the end of Round 1 or beginning of Round 2 to reach the Bears. 

Ruiz has been rising in draft projections ever since the combine.

"Mentally, he made all of our (line) calls for us, he's an outstanding player both physically and mentally," teammate Ben Bredeson said at the combine. "For me, these first-round talks, I'm thrilled for him. I think he earned it."

Ruiz's attitude about taking over the offensive line calls and taking charge is almost reminiscent of Olin Kreutz.

"I'm in charge, I'm in charge of the whole show," Ruiz said. "If something goes wrong, I'll take the heat for it. Things are going good, I'll take the shine for it as well."

The maturity level Ruiz displays for a player coming out after his junior year is unusual, but should be expected from someone who has been baptized in the flames of a hard life lived.

Ruiz's mother, Latoya Shambry, raised him in tough Camden, N.J. after his father, Cesar Edwin Ruiz, died tragically at the age of 26. He stepped outside of their car on Route 55 to assist another motorist with a flat tire and was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.

"This whole entire (draft) experience is dedicated to that whole situation, that tragedy," Ruiz said at the combine. "I still do it, every night, every day, I think about it. 

"If my dad was here to see what I'm doing right now, he would be mind blown. So I'm still playing for my dad, I still play through my dad, my dad still lives through me. And that's how it's always going to be."

He tries to imitate the Samaritan approach of his father, even though it might not always be easy in a place like Camden.

"It'll test your character," Ruiz said. "It will either make or break you. There's a lot of people I grew up with, it didn't make them, it broke them. But you just gotta have a good head on your shoulders."

He credits his mother for getting through it.

"You hear about violence, shootings, killings, rivalries," he said. "You hear that almost every week. So just things like that, it's something you become immune to. As a kid, you see it so many times. I mean, really, what I did, I was fortunate enough to have a mom that was really strict on me, so I was never really allowed to be in those areas or even be caught up in those situations."

This kind of life experience makes football seem like just a game and renders inconsequential the adjustment to playing at an NFL level.

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