Kewaunee’s Bortolini set to make NFL dream a reality

It’s the only time Tanor Bortolini ever looked uncertain with a helmet and shoulder pads on.

The Kewaunee native remembers being elated to finally strap some up for his first year of tackle football in fifth grade back in 2012.

Since he was already a bit bigger than most of his peers, his coaches needed to grab some varsity pads to fit the energetic kid with a big dream.

However, there remained just one problem for Bortolini.

“He’s like, ‘How do I strap them on because I can’t reach the straps?,’” said David Kinjerski, one of Bortolini’s coaches. “That’s when we had to tell him he had them on backwards.”

Fast forward 12 years and Bortolini is still just as excited to play football as he was during his first equipment handout day at the old Hillcrest grade school back in his hometown.

The 6-foot-4, 303-pounder has put in the work over that time to ultimately climb his way to becoming one of the top prospects at his position in this year’s NFL Draft class.

The only uncertainty the interior offensive lineman faces at this point is finding out where he’s going to be strapping on a helmet and shoulder pads next.

“I think it will be really cool – a surreal moment – where finally you realize I’m going to be in the NFL,” Bortolini said. “I’m really achieving this dream. I think it’s going to be a great moment, and I’m going to be really excited to get to work wherever I end up.”

The 21-year-old lineman has become a virtual lock to hear his name called at some point during the NFL Draft, which takes place April 25-27. Most draft analysts project Bortolini to go Saturday in the fourth round.

But it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the former University of Wisconsin offensive lineman gets selected Friday given his strong performances at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine.

The latter skyrocketed his stock among draft pundits across the nation. His 40-yard dash time of 4.94 seconds was second among offensive linemen and his three-cone drill time of 7.16 seconds broke a combine record for an offensive lineman that was previously held by Jason Kelce, who recently retired as an all-pro center for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Bortolini’s power, mobility and versatility comes as no surprise to those that were around him as a young athlete, when he competed in football, basketball, baseball, and track and field during his high school years.

“He’s a big offensive lineman, but he’s always had that athletic ability to move out in space,” Kewaunee head football coach Randy Charles said.

“When the big boys have the ability to get out of the trenches and do some things in space, he was definitely the kind of kid that ate that up. Hence his longing to always want to be tight end. He was always pestering us for that, and I know he was doing the same thing down there playing for the Badgers.”

Bortolini is carrying on the strong tradition the Badgers have established of producing offensive linemen for the pros.

After starting 28 games and playing four different positions along the offensive line in college, he’ll be the 25th lineman from UW since 2000 to be selected in the NFL Draft. Fifteen of them went within the first three rounds.

His versatility and willingness to do whatever he could to help the team even got him some time at tight end in Madison.

Bortolini didn’t have to look far to find some role models at that position.

Inside one of the trophy cases at Kewaunee High School is a display featuring two alums who went on to play in the NFL as tight ends: Jack Novak and Colin Cochart.

After playing at Wisconsin, Novak was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 12th round of the 1975 NFL Draft and played two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coming out of South Dakota State, Cochart made the Bengals’ roster in 2011 as an undrafted free agent and also spent time with the Dallas Cowboys.

Bortolini grew up close to Novak and can recall receiving a few pointers here and there as a kid from the long-time assistant football coach at Kewaunee.

Hanging in his childhood bedroom was a signed photo of Cochart, who Bortolini met in fourth grade when the former all-state tight end returned to his alma mater to speak during the Bengals’ bye week.

“To, hopefully, be in the same trophy case as both of those guys would be pretty cool,” said Bortolini, who would become the fourth Kewaunee native to play in the NFL, joining Novak, Cochart and Stan Kuick (1926).

“If you put the work, time and effort in you can get there. I think that’s the really cool part about being able to see Colin do that from a young age. I think early on I had that mindset that it would be possible.”

Another tight end that made an impression on Bortolini as a kid was Mike Lux, who as a senior in 2010 led Kewaunee to its first WIAA state title in any sport.

Bortolini recalls watching the all-state tight end from Kewaunee’s press box, where his maternal grandfather, Glenn Teske, was the public-address announcer for football games.

The oldest of three kids, Bortolini always had sports in his life. Both of his parents, Teresa and Scott, competed in college athletics.

His mom played basketball at UW-Milwaukee after setting Kewaunee’s scoring record, which stood for 28 years. His dad played baseball at Lakeland College.

They coached at various levels from youth to high school, so there was always a gym key in the Bortolini household. Tanor always had a goal in mind as well.

“He straight up told me as a seventh-grader, ‘I’m going to play for the Badgers one day and I’m going to play in the NFL.’ I’m like, OK, let’s gets to work,” said Casey Christian, one of Bortolini’s coaches in football and track & field. “That was my first interaction with him.

“He hasn’t changed one bit. He’s still that small-town kid. The big lights haven’t affected him by any means.”

Bortolini made an immediate impact on the Kewaunee varsity football team, earning a starting spot at left tackle as a freshman.

“Just based on his size and athletic ability, we knew we were going to have something special,” Charles said. “You typically don’t get kids that come in as a freshman and start making an impact right away.”

Bortolini led Kewaunee to back-to-back Packerland Conference titles as an upperclassman. He was named conference offensive and defensive lineman of the year twice in addition to earning first-team all-state accolades on offense by both The Associated Press and Wisconsin Football Coaches Association his senior year in 2019.

His biggest performances, however, came in pair of games in 2018 against rival Southern Door, which featured in its backfield Derik LeCaptain, an all-state performer and current linebacker for the University of Minnesota.

Kewaunee’s strategy to try to contain LeCaptain was to have Bortolini mirror him wherever the standout running back went. It was two alphas matching up and a classic case of iron sharpening iron.

“It didn’t matter if Derik split out to receiver, we had Tanor running out from being a D-end going basically to play corner in the slot,” Christian said. “It always amazed me how this kid was a giant but so athletic that we could move him from defensive end to go play corner against one of the best players in the state and lock him up.”

By the spring of his junior year Bortolini received several NCAA Division I scholarship offers, including from Ivy League schools since he scored a 30 on his ACT. He didn’t take long to accept Wisconsin’s when it came along.

While being heavily recruited he also managed to advance to the WIAA state track & field championships and place fourth in the Division 2 shot put. He reached the podium with a personal-best throw of 51 feet, 5 inches with his final attempt.

Bortolini never got a chance to try to win the D2 state title the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic canceling his senior season.

“If we would have had a meet his senior year, I’m sure he would have broke the school record in the shot put because he was only a couple feet away as a junior,” said Kewaunee head track & field coach Joe Kassner, who also coached Bortolini in football.

“He’s a very humble kid. You can tell he grew up with good parents and is one that doesn’t take anything for granted.”

Bortolini’s college career actually started in his parents’ basement, where a makeshift weight room was made in 2020 so he could start the Badgers’ strength training program during the pandemic’s lockdown phase.

“The squat rack was built out of 2×4’s,” Bortolini said. “It was different. It was a different time for training, but I’m really thankful that I had that chance to really get after it before enrolling in college. It put me in a position to succeed.”

The Badgers then basically put him at every position along the offensive line, including both guard spots, right tackle and center.

In 2022, he was named honorable mention all-Big Ten after allowing just one sack over 10 starts. That season saw UW make a change by letting go of head coach Paul Chryst in the middle of the season.

New Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell came to Madison last season with a new offense under the direction of coordinator Phil Longo. Needless to say, the spread attack was a drastic change from the tight splits and formations the Badgers had become known for as a ground-and-pound team.

Ultimately, the change benefited Bortolini and his prospects of going pro, as he finally found a consistent home as the team’s starting center. In an offense that operated almost exclusively with shotgun snaps, it allowed him to face and rise up to a new challenge.

“Not every team runs the same scheme, and I have experience running a variety of them,” said Bortolini, who was named third team all-Big Ten in 2023. “They were two polar opposite (offenses). There is no right or wrong way to run an offense. It’s just your preference. This year we were more of an air raid, air-it-out offense. It’s a little different than the typical power run that people are used to seeing Wisconsin do, but as an offensive lineman it’s pretty cool because you get to showcase that you are athletic and can move in space, and I think it made me more well-rounded as a player.”

In preparing for his NFL future, Bortolini spent close to three months over the winter living and training in Dallas, where offensive line guru and trainer Duke Manyweather is located.

The workout sessions with other top linemen propelled Bortolini to excel at the Senior Bowl in Birmingham on Feb. 3 and at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on March 3.

From there it was the Badgers’ Pro Day and visits to several NFL teams, including the Green Bay Packers.

But traveling to bigger cities and having ESPN pundits like draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. praise his talent and pro potential hasn’t changed Bortolini and his small-town roots.

“He’s definitely Kewaunee, Northeast Wisconsin, through and through,” Charles said. “He’s still very grounded. He never let any of the attention get to his head, which is good to see. That speaks volumes to his character. His character and how he conducts his business on and off the field is something we’re definitely proud of saying that came through our program.

“He’s a good representation of the best of who we are. I think the athletic ability puts it on display for a larger audience or larger group of people to see a kid of good character doing things the right way. To me, to say this is an NFL player that we’ve had come through our program is cool, but I think as a coach I’m more proud of who he is as a man, even more so than what his athletic ability has got him to.”

Bortolini has come a long way since being the fifth-grader that didn’t know how to put his equipment on.

“Every time I see him it’s always going to be that fifth-grade kid that came walking through with his helmet and shoulder pads on backwards,” Kinjerski said. “Tanor is just the best. He’s a blue-collar kid from a small town. He’s flannel wearing; he’s Kewaunee. He represents his roots well. His parents raised him the right way. He turned out to be a very good man. He just has to remember our bargain. I told him in sixth grade that once he makes the league, he only owes me one thing and that’s a pair of signed, game-worn cleats.”

It’s not lost on Bortolini that not too long ago he was the young kid looking up to football players and now he’s got kids looking up to him.

Bortolini is appreciative of every coach he’s ever had and everyone who has supported him along the way, including the contingent of family members and friends who regularly made the trek to Madison and elsewhere in the Big Ten to see him play with the Badgers.

While the destination is unknown, one thing is for certain: One NFL team is going to have a new pocket of fans along the Lake Michigan shoreline by the end of this weekend.

“It’s really great to have the full support of the community,” Bortolini said. “Being from Kewaunee, you really feel like the whole town and the whole county has your back, and they’re all supporting you and cheering you on. It’s really cool. You go anywhere and people are excited to talk about it, and I’m more than happy to sit down and talk about what I’m going through and take the time to say thank you. It really takes a village, a lot of people to get me to the place that I’m at today. I couldn’t be more grateful and thankful for that kind of support.”