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New England Patriots rookie center Bryan Stork (AP Photo)

PHOENIX — How much does Patriots rookie center Bryan Stork love football? Ask his offensive line coach, Dave DeGuglielmo. He’ll provide some pretty solid proof.

“Well I think we knew right away,” DeGuglielmo said Wednesday. “What really hit me was, about three weeks into him starting, he sent his girlfriend home. He said he got rid of her. He said, ‘I have bigger things to worry about than her.’ That tells me, you know what, this guy’s kind of got it together here: ‘I need to focus on football.’ He’s all-in.”

“You can tell, (Stork) is watching film at 9, 10 o’clock at night in the building, and they don’t have to because they all get it on the IPads,” DeGuglielmo continued. “But he’s in the building, he’s constantly around, he’s constantly asking questions. He’s almost a pain in the ass that he asks so many questions to the other guys. They get irritated, but he wants to know because he understands he has a responsibility to the rest of the group.”

DeGuglielmo, in his first year with New England, said the Patriots were honing in on two centers during the 2014 NFL Draft. He declined to name the other. He remembers calling Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett and expressing concern about Stork being nicked up during his college days.

“And (Trickett) said, ‘Don’t worry about this guy. He’s the toughest guy you have in the room,’” DeGuglielmo said. “And coach (Belichick) went ahead with it, and it turned out — this kid is a tough kid.”

Stork has not played since injuring his right knee in the second quarter of the AFC divisional round win over Baltimore. He returned to practice this past Thursday.