Like most young kids just starting out with football, Frank Ragnow probably had grand dreams of being the star running back or a stud quarterback.

Unfortunately for him, he was bigger than everyone else, and youth football rules have weight limits for kids that can touch the football. Ragnow was too big to touch the ball.

He was forced into the trenches early on, and that's where he started to build a different kind of mentality for the game -- A nastiness, if you will.

Offensive linemen don't get much of the glory. They're usually the ones that love the physical nature of the game.  

"You have to love football," Ragnow said Friday at his introductory press conference. "I love that (physical) part of the game. It's just kind of been what drew me to the game.

"I've always been the bigger kid. I was the double-striper, when I was little I wasn't able to touch the ball. So, that's what you kind of really have to fall in love with and that's what I've always been in love with."

That certainly seems to fall in line with the kind of team Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia want to build here in Detroit. Quinn has spoken often about the trenches being important to him, and Patricia's said a number of times how he believes in building a team from the ball out.

"When you build – and this is really both sides of the ball – you want to build from the ball out, OK?" Patricia said at the Combine. "So, start at the ball, and work out."

Whether or not Ragnow, who the Lions selected 20th overall Thursday night, will be as close as anyone to the ball playing center, or whether he's in at guard, is yet to be determined. The Lions are going to get him and veteran Graham Glasgow on the field together, and see where the best fit for both of them will be.

"I like everything about both of them," Ragnow said of playing center or guard. "There's snapping the ball. You're reading a little bit more with center. They're both more similar than you think.

"Wherever they want me, I'm happy to be, whether it's guard, center, long snapper, punter. Anywhere they want me, I'll be out there, and I'll be giving my best."

Ragnow was the nation's top graded center by Pro Football Focus as both a junior and senior, and was a three-year starter and team captain. He saw action in 2,603 offensive snaps, and never allowed a sack in his four-year career.

"I take a lot of pride in the way I play and how hard I play," Ragnow said. "I take a lot of pride in finishing guys and I just think that's very important. It's a physical game and I think that's a very important part of it."

There are a lot of things a player can't control out on the football field, but effort and work ethic are two things that Ragnow believes a player can always control.

"Your finishing isn't going to be about your talents and it's not going to be about your athleticism," he said. "It's about your want to and that's something you can control."