BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — Olin Kreutz is one of the smallest centers in the NFL, but he doesn't play that way.

Sure, Kreutz's 6-foot-2, 292-pound frame would make an average person on the street not want to draw the ire of the Chicago Bears' standout.

But in the NFL world, the Saint Louis School and University of Washington alum is the third smallest starting center.

Kreutz, though, is at the top of his profession's most important scale. He is in his ninth professional training camp, looking to build on five straight Pro Bowl selections.

"I tell you, there's nobody else I'd rather have up there," Chicago offensive line coach Harry Hiestand said. "He makes a difference every single day in a positive way and that's not an easy thing to do."

What Kreutz lacks in size is made up in other ways when going against players that are often 20 pounds heavier.

His background as a former state champion wrestler in high school gives him the agility and quickness needed to compete against bigger defensive linemen.

Mix in Kreutz's work ethic and preparation, and you get the player CBS SportsLine.com ranks as the league's second-best center. (He should be No. 1 now because the current No. 1, Cleveland's LeCharles Bentley, is lost for the season with a knee injury.)

"No one works any harder than Olin does," Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "He's a student of the game. He deserves to play well each week by the way that he prepares."

Kreutz blends his pregame preparations with what his teammates and coaches say is his most prominent attribute — an intense passion for the game.

"It's not matched by anybody," Hiestand said. "He'll go in there and just battle you play after play."

Kreutz credits his Hawai'i upbringing as a reason for his intense nature on the football field.

"Hawai'i is who I am. The culture there is to fight and never give up," he said. "That's what I try to bring to the field.

"I hope I bring it every day."

Kreutz's teammates say he does.

"He leads by example and shows exactly how to get the work done," starting right guard Roberto Garza said. "He's intense and his work ethic is great.

"He prepares all week for it and he knows exactly what's going on. He's the leader of our offensive line."

Smith went a step further, saying: "Olin is our team leader. Not offensive team leader, not offensive line leader, but he's our team leader. It's hard for me to say exactly what he has, but I just know he has it."

And Kreutz's teammates know it, too. He is the only two-time winner of the Brian Piccolo Award, voted by players and given each year to the one who best exemplifies courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and a sense of humor.

"The guys look to him when anything is going on and he's kind of a godfather to our team," Smith said.

The longest tenured member of the Bears is as unassuming as he is intense, choosing instead to deflect the praise elsewhere.

"The guys next to me help me out a lot, along with the coaches' schemes," Kreutz said of his numerous accolades. "I just use what tools I have to my advantage — that's knowing the game, trying to out-quick the guy, and just trying to get leverage."

Kreutz isn't just talented. He's durable, starting 54 consecutive games and 79 of the past 80.

"Luck. It's all luck in the NFL," Kreutz said. "You work hard, train your body and lift a lot of weights, but the thing that helps in the NFL is luck. Anybody can get hurt."

Hopes are high in camp as the Bears return 22 starters from last year's 11-5 NFC North Championship team.

"Every year there is (optimism), and you never know what's going to happen with injuries, but this year we kind of feel it," Kreutz said. "But we won't get anything unless we work hard.

"I think you can see from our first practice that we weren't walking around. We were trying to hit each other. We're trying to bring it this year and we're trying to win."

Brian Peloza is a freelance writer who has covered the Chicago Bears camp for four years.

Coming up: Hawai'i players with Jacksonville Jaguars.