Corey Michael Linsley (born July 27, 1991) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Linsley was drafted by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the fifth round of the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

High school career

A native of

Boardman, Ohio Boardman Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. The population was 40,213 at the 2020 census. A suburb directly south of Youngstown, it is the second largest municipality in the Youngstown–Warren met ...

, Linsley attended

Boardman High School Boardman High School is a high school in Boardman Township, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Boardman Local School District. Athletic teams compete as the Boardman Spartans in the Ohio High School Athletic Association as a ...

, where he earned first-team All-Federal League, All-Northeast Ohio and second-team All-Ohio honors. He served as a team captain as a senior. He was named to SuperPrep's Midwest Top 30. As a standout athlete, he lettered all four years in

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, where he was the regional and league champion and a state medalist in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

(top throw of 19.24 meters as a senior). He also threw the discus, with a top throw of 58.27 meters as a senior. At Ohio State, he considered switching to track and field and quit football entirely. Regarded as a four-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Linsley was listed as the No. 6 offensive guard prospect of his class.

College career

After redshirting his initial year at Ohio State, Linsley saw limited action in six games in 2010, mostly as a reserve right guard or tackle. As a sophomore, he appeared in ten games, still as a reserve. He did see significant action on the PAT and field goal teams as a blocker, though. After playing two seasons at guard, he was designated to succeed All-American center

Mike Brewster Michael Brewster (born July 27, 1989) is a former American football center and current tight ends coach at Tennessee State. He played collegiality at the Ohio State University. Brewster was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free ...

at center. He started all 12 games at center and help the Buckeyes to post a Big Ten-best 37.2 points per game while ranking second in rushing with an average of 242.2 yards per game on the ground. Linsley was viewed as an integral part of the Buckeyes' offense.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Linsley was selected in the fifth round (161st overall) by the

in the

. On May 15, 2014, he signed a contract with the Packers. In 2014, Linsley was initially supposed to be the Packers' back-up center, but an injury to expected starter

J. C. Tretter Joseph Carl "JC" Tretter Jr. (born February 12, 1991) is a former American football Center (gridiron football), center. He played college football at Cornell Big Red football, Cornell, and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round ...

late in the preseason made Linsley the surprise starting center for the regular season. After Tretter came back from his injury, Linsley remained as starting center and ended up starting every game during the regular season as well as the 2 playoff games. On September 3, 2016, Linsley was placed on Reserve/ PUP to start the season after a lingering hamstring injury. He was activated off PUP on November 5, 2016. On December 30, 2017, Linsley signed a three-year, $25.5 million contract extension with the Packers after starting all 16 games at center in 2017. On December 5, 2020, Linsley was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury in Week 12. On December 26, 2020, Linsley was activated off of injured reserve.

Los Angeles Chargers

On March 17, 2021, Linsley signed a five-year, $62.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Chargers, making him the highest-paid center in the league.

Personal life

Linsley is married to Anna Linsley. They have two sons together.

References

External links

*
Ohio State Buckeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linsley, Corey 1991 births Living people People from Boardman, Ohio Players of American football from Youngstown, Ohio American football centers American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Ohio State Buckeyes football players Green Bay Packers players Los Angeles Chargers players American Conference Pro Bowl players