GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- It's near-impossible to overlook 6-foot-4, 345-pound Bobbie Williams when he's standing over the ball.

It's even tougher to overlook the 6-7, 330-pound Andrew Whitworth when the quarterback is standing behind him.

Both Williams and Whitworth took snaps at center in Monday night’s practice, but neither is going to replace starter Eric Ghiaciuc -- yet.

"It's definitely an emergency (situation)," said Williams. "(Eric) Ghiaciuc is our center going in, but it's a long season. Injuries are going to occur. You just have to be ready."

Williams practiced at center during the team's off-season training activities, has done a little more in training camp and had his first live shotgun snaps on Monday.

"As far as with the bullets flying around -- little bullets, no pads -- that was the most excitement I've had doing it," Williams said of his shotgun snaps. "As long as the quarterback feels good, I feel good. I'm an easy pleaser."

For Whitworth, Monday was the first time he played center in practice.

"I'm trying to diversify myself," said Whitworth, who, along with Williams, sandwiches Ghiaciuc at guard. "I want to do all five positions and after taking some snaps at center today, I feel like it's a possibility I could play all five."

Again, Whitworth said it was just preparing for an emergency, as did offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski.

"He's probably a little big for the position, but mentally he's certainly capable of handling it," Bratkowski said of Whitworth. "In that emergency that could happen, that would be as important as everything, the mental aspect of making the calls and running the unit up front."

At 6-4, 303 pounds, Ghiaciuc is rarely called small, but among the Bengals offensive line, he is.

In addition to the guards, the Bengals have 6-7, 342-pound Stacy Andrews and 6-5, 307-pound Levi Jones at tackle and then 6-5, 340-pound Willie Anderson as a back-up.

If, just if, Williams or Whitworth could be slotted into the center spot, that would make room for Anderson, a four-time Pro-Bowler on the starting offensive line.

The mind begins to contemplate the possibilities -- Marvin Lewis has talked about how important the run is going to be for the Bengals, and if you had a rejuvenated Rudi Johnson and a healthy Chris Perry behind that monster line…

But it's just emergency, Bratkowski said. Williams and Whitworth are there in a glass case to be broken only if an alarm sounds and there's no other choice.

"Generally we do it every year. I guess you don't notice it the other times, but we always take one of the other linemen and every other day or so put them at center," Bratkowski said. "Because we've been in this situation before where we run out of centers, so it's best to have a guy trained right now that gets used to snapping and the quarterbacks get used to. But it's nothing more than emergency."

It's more than that, it’s a tease, and it has to be tempting. Alas, for now, it's not to be.

For now.