When the Seattle Seahawks entered training camp looking for their next starting center, more people might have put their money on Lemuel Jeanpierre winning the job than Drew Nowak.

Jeanpierre was the more experienced of the two, having spent the past four seasons in Seattle, playing in 53 games while starting 11. Nowak, however, has only appeared in two NFL games, and has had to learn to be an offensive lineman along the way.

Nowak was the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a defensive tackle during his senior year at Western Michigan (2011). But he went undrafted in 2012 and wound up signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he was moved to guard.

Nowak spent the 2012 season on injured reserve, then spent most of 2013 on the Jaguars practice squad. The Jaguars cut Nowak before the start of the 2014 season, and he eventually wound up in Seattle with the Seahawks practice squad, where he spent time on both sides of the ball.

Nowak was thrown into the competition for the starting center spot during the offseason, and now, with the somewhat surprising release of Jeanpierre on Monday, Nowak appears to be the next man up for the Seahawks at center this season.

“Nobody’s told me anything yet,” Nowak said, per Seahawks.com. “So I’m just going to take this week as it comes, play as well as I can in the game, then wait and see what coach has to say about it. Hopefully good news comes from him, but I’m just going to keep trying to work hard and get better and try to earn the spot still.”

For Nowak, moving from position to position has been all about keeping the NFL dream alive.

"If it's going to keep me in the NFL, then whatever it takes," Nowak told ESPN 710 in Seattle.

The next step will be snapping to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson on Sundays. Wilson says "the sky's the limit" for the young center.

“Drew’s been phenomenal," Wilson said Tuesday, per the Seattle Times. "He’s got crazy work ethic. He has a true passion for the game. He was defensive player of the year on the MAC. He loves football. He’s a talented football player. I remember him last year on scout team he would always chase me down on the naked (bootlegs), in terms of the play action fakes. He’s a football player. When he gets out there in terms of how he’s been preparing, he’s one of the first guys you see in the morning, he stays here late. He asks a lot of questions. He’s fully dived in at being a great center. I love what he’s doing. I think he’s going to be a phenomenal player.”