Geoff Hangartner has started 28 games at center the past two years for the Buffalo Bills.

He has every intention of adding to that total.

“That’s my mind-set, yes,” said Hangartner this week after a Bills players-only workout in Elma. “I haven’t spoken with anybody about it. But that is my mind-set.”

Eric Wood shifted over from his right-guard spot to start the last four games of the 2010 season at center after Hangartner was lost with a sprained knee.

Wood, who started 49 games at center in college, handled the transition smoothly. The Bills expect Wood to be even better this year with the benefit of a full offseason of training. (Wood came back from a severe leg fracture in 2010.) That has prompted the Bills to consider keeping him in the middle of the offensive line.

“We think Eric Wood was the best center in the draft coming out,” said Bills General Manager Buddy Nix at the Senior Bowl in late January. “Obviously he wasn’t [fully] healthy. But when he gets healthy, there’s a good chance that’s where he’ll be. We’ll just see. We’ll play the best ones.”

Hangartner made it clear center is his preferred spot.

“I talked to Joe for a little bit,” he said, referring to end-of-season meetings with offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris. “And that’s never come up in our conversations. … There’s always speculation on this and that in the offseason. So we’ll see how it shakes out.”

Since arriving in Buffalo as a free agent in 2009, the 301-pound Hangartner has stabilized the center position, which had been a long-term problem the previous decade. He has been stout enough and brings great intelligence to the job of making line calls and adjustments. Hangartner scored 47 out of 50 on the Wonderlic intelligence test before the draft in 2005. That’s believed to be the highest score of any offensive lineman ever.

The 315-pound Wood, a first-round pick in 2009, is the most talented member of the Bills’ line and brings the most physical style of the Bills’ linemen. Andy Levitre is entrenched as the starter at left guard.

Nix and coach Chan Gailey love the idea of creating competition for playing time, and that’s what they have going on the line.

One factor in the decision on where to put Wood will be how the other guard prospects shake out in training camp. The Bills added two guards they think have promise — 323-pound Kraig Urbik and 307-pound Chad Rinehart — last season. Both are former third-round draft picks. Urbik, taken by Pittsburgh in 2009, was claimed off waivers from the Steelers last September. He played in 10 games and started two for the Bills. Rinehart, drafted by Washington in 2008, broke his leg in 2009, wasn’t 100 percent in camp last year, and was cut by the Redskins last September. He joined the Bills in October and made three starts.

Both Urbik and Rinehart are physical, and Gailey wants the line to be as physical as possible. The question is: How much of a push will the two make for a starting job?

The 29-year-old Hangartner is optimistic the Bills’ offense can continue the momentum gained during the 4-4 run the second half of last season.

“I felt like we made strides offensively,” he said. “Stevie Johnson obviously stepped up and did some great things. Fitz [Ryan Fitzpatrick] did a great job leading the offense. We have some confidence. It’s not like we’ve been with Chan for a long time. But at least we’ve been through a season with him. We know the offense. There are a lot of teams with new head coaches that are going to have a hard time. You’ll see them struggle early in the season, I think, because they just can’t put enough stuff in in time. We’re actually fortunate that we don’t have a turnover [in coaches] this year.”

The Bills’ offense ranked 24th last year.

“I felt like most of the season we were better than 24th in the NFL offensively,” Hangartner said. “We had some games where we struggled. We had some games where we lit it up pretty good. So hopefully this year we can be more consistent. And if we’re consistently good, we’ll definitely be in the top half of the NFL.”

Hangartner showed up for all four days of workouts in Elma.

“Hopefully if guys aren’t in shape this will be kind of an ah-ha moment where they realize, ‘I’ve got to do a little bit more at home,’” he said. “Or it validates what guys are doing at home and they know they’re on track.”

He said staying in top shape is more critical this year than ever due to the NFL lockout.

“Whenever it happens,” he said of a new labor deal, “you’re going to get about three days’ notice that you have to be in training camp or whatever. There’s not going to be time to get yourself in shape if you’re not in shape.”

mgaughan@buffnews.comnull