FAYETTEVILLE -- Frank Ragnow's life took an unexpected turn on the night of Oct. 1.
Ragnow's father, Jon, passed away due to a heart attack in the hours after Ragnow and the Arkansas Razorbacks celebrated a 52-10 victory over Alcorn State.
The 10 weeks since have been a mixture of mourning, competition and contemplation for Arkansas' junior center, who conducted media interviews this week for the first time since his father's death.
Always engaging, Ragnow brought a ready smile, quick wit and a measure of nostalgia into the media room at the Smith Football Center on Wednesday evening.
"You know, after these media sessions, my dad would call me and make fun of me for what I said, some smooth line I'd try to think of," Ragnow said.
Ragnow, who is considering early entry into the NFL Draft after playing against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 29, periodically has posted tributes and plaintive remarks about his father on social media the past 10 weeks, such as "Just want my Dad back," "Only one thing I can do, play my heart out," "Wish I could just rewind" and "just wanna talk to my dad."
The support of coaches, teammates and fans has been a necessary and welcomed crutch for Ragnow.
"Just having my team -- every single one of my teammates, support staff, kids in my class, my professors, just the whole state of Arkansas -- has been amazing," Ragnow said. "It's been incredible to have the support, and I really need the support."
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema arranged for the university to fly Ragnow home to Victoria, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, to be with his mother, Marty, and family members after Jon Ragnow's death. Bielema and his wife, Jen, accompanied the 6-5, 319-pounder on the flight up.
"Coach B, I've known him since he was at Wisconsin," Ragnow said. "He's a guy who's been amazing to me. He's a family member to me."
Senior tackle Dan Skipper said Ragnow's ability to play against Alabama the week after his father's death and to keep pushing to improve has been impressive.
"He's handled it like a champ," Skipper said. "To go through something that none of us could imagine doing, being there with him, to play the next week ... has been really inspirational. It shows the type of kid he is. You're not ever going to do anything that's going to knock him out."
Ragnow said he is torn on whether to declare as an underclassman for the draft or return for his senior year at Arkansas. He submitted the paperwork to be evaluated by the NFL's draft advisory board at the end of the regular season, and he's awaiting feedback. He said there are plenty of factors to consider.
"Right now, I'm just trying to gather all the information I can, trying to soak it all in from the people I talk to," he said, mentioning Bielema, offensive line coach Kurt Anderson, strength coach Ben Herbert and others.
Ragnow said he hasn't set a projected round or salary slot he must reach to enter the draft.
"I mean, obviously, I want to go as high as possible, and if I can't go high I don't want to leave," he said. "But I don't have anything set in stone. I'm just trying to listen to more advice from everybody I'm talking to and see the number, talk to my mother and see if I'm confident with it. Obviously, I want to go first round like everybody else, but I've just got to see, figure it out."
Pro Football Focus gave Ragnow the highest grade among the nation's centers this season. The publication ranked his performance in Arkansas' 31-10 victory over No. 11 Florida as the fifth-best individual showing in the SEC in 2016, and wrote, "As was the case for most of the year, he didn't allow a single sack, hit, or hurry in pass protection, but it was his work as a run blocker that earns him this honor. Outstanding at the second level and on the move, he stopped linebackers in their tracks when he got to them."
Ragnow said he was aware of the honor.
"To be recognized by Pro Football Focus, which I think is a pretty credible site, as the No. 1 center in the country is pretty dang cool," he said. "At the end of the day what really matters is, are my teammates happy with me? Are my coaches happy with me? Am I playing up to par for them? That's all that really matters."
Anderson said last week that Ragnow was better than up to par, adding that NFL scouts will be hard-pressed to find a more impressive center.
"I just can't imagine being able to turn on tape and watch other centers and have them do the things that he does, and actually do the things that I ask him to do in terms of being that leader on the offensive line," Anderson said. "He makes all the calls. He makes all the checks. He sees safety rotation. He sees safeties off the hash and flips protections, changes protections in terms of where we're going. He doesn't make mistakes. That's uncommon."
Although Ragnow was a first-team All-SEC choice by analyst Phil Steele, he came in behind LSU's Ethan Pocic and Kentucky's Jon Toth on the coaches All-SEC team. He was a second-team All-SEC choice by The Associated Press.
Pocic, Toth, Ohio State's Pat Elflein, West Virginia's Tyler Orlosky, Baylor's Kyle Fuller and Michigan's Mason Cole are among the players who would compete with Ragnow for first center off the board if he declares. Underclassmen have until Jan. 18 to declare.
The highest-drafted center of the past five years was Alabama's Ryan Kelly, who went to the Indianapolis Colts with the No. 18 pick in the first round last year. The only other first-round centers in the past five years were Florida State's Cameron Erving, the No. 19 pick in 2015 by Cleveland, and Wisconsin's Travis Frederick, the No. 31 pick in 2013 by Dallas.
Bielema has been involved with three of the past 10 centers chosen among the first three rounds of the NFL Draft, having coached Frederick and Peter Konz at Wisconsin, and overseeing Travis Swanson's final season at Arkansas in 2013. Konz was a second round pick by Atlanta in 2012 and Swanson went in the third round to Detroit in 2014.
Ragnow's coaches and teammates have been giving him personal advice in recent days.
Quarterback Austin Allen said, "We're best friends and everything, so I tell him, 'You can't leave me' or things like that. Frank's a heck of a football player, and if the opportunity presents itself, I'm all for him doing whatever he feels is right."
Said Ragnow, "They're starting to give me a little trash ... but, you know, we're all just a bunch of buddies and they're giving me crap. They know I'm going to do what's best for me, and they know I'm going to make sure it's the right decision, too."
Sports on 12/16/2016