Bad stat for the LT
Not very good news. And some already saw this in the game:
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
Runyan was on another level of bad to everyone else. Even JBB looked plausible. Runyan didn't even look like a D1 player, let alone a P5 one. On top of that he made a lot of mental errors too, and wasn't good in the run game either. I was reasonably high on him maybe being serviceable given his athleticism, but unless he just had the worst game of his life, I just don't see how Michigan can continue to roll with him. The backups may be worse now, but at least they have some upside and are more prototypically tackle shaped.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
Yes this is exactly it for why I started to say in this thread
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
What did you start to say? And where did you start to say it?
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
I did re-watch it, and I actually felt like there were several instances the offense was rolling only to have a play blown up because the LT could barely get a hand on someone. It was a drive killer when you have those plays.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
Don’t see how he was locked in to LT spot. That’s scares me the most.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
There’s a lot of teams who have rosters full of 3 stars and they have OLs that aren’t dumpster fires. It’s not just a recruiting thing.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:34 PM ^
Half and half recruiting and coaching. We arent beating Ohio State with twelve 2 and 3 star guys in year 4. People can argue it all they want but its the truth. Harbaugh should have fired Dudek and everyone else in the recruiting staff yesterday.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^
But it kind of is. It's not so much that we don't have stars at tackles, it's that we literally don't have players at tackle. Runyan is a guard who is playing tackle because our tackle depth chart (according to this site's depth chart) is:
Seniors: JBB
Juniors: Ulizio, Runyan, and Newsome :-(
Sophomores: Nobody
Freshmen: Steuber, Hudson, Mayfield, and Hayes
EDIT: Posted for dramatic effect: 
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Newsome gets hurt, LTT does something dumb and gets booted, Devrey Hamilton decommits out of the blue and leaves Michigan with no plan B (after chasing off Swenson), plus plain ol' recruiting misses. Hopefully Hudson, Steuber, or Mayfield can push through sooner rather than later.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:27 PM ^
I remember when I thought Hoke’s O lines were bad. And that was with two NFL Tackles. I’d kill just to have those lines now.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^
Eh, I'd much rather have a decent interior and bad tackles than the other way around. I don't think you're fully remembering how bad those lines were. We're bad now, but not 22 for 22 bad.
September 4th, 2018 at 4:58 AM ^
maybe we can just sneak Lewan and Schofield back onto the roster and no one will notice...
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^
Runyan started his second game on Saturday. He's only played three games at tackle in his career, and this was his first start at LT. You can't simulate game speed in practice, regardless of how good your DE's are. We need to calm down before we give him the O'Korn treatment.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
Dylan mccaffrey started his first game and looked fine. Runyan has extensive playing experience and is an upperclassman. Sorry folks it aint gonna work with Runyan.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^
One thing's for sure, UofM's LT saw things Sat night he had never seen on the football field before, maybe he can learn real quick-like.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:52 PM ^
Do we run alot of stunts? Seems not.. maybe because I am always watching other teams stunt us, especially MSU.. seems all we do is try to muscle the OL off scrimmage... maybe these guys dont see a ton of it in practice.....
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
You'd think that practicing across from one of the best D-line in the country for the last 3-4 years would have molded a passable O-line by competition.
It is still a long way away, but I shudder to think of what Nick Bosa would do to this O-line right now.
September 4th, 2018 at 12:04 AM ^
This is part of the problem. I just don't think our DLine is as good as people say. Gary and Chase are overrated.
September 4th, 2018 at 5:01 AM ^
They are certainly not overrated. Those two were constantly ripping past ND's o-line. The only reason Wimbush wasn't getting devoured every play was because the DTs were getting no push so Wimbush would just step up and scramble out. If Glasgow or Hurst were still around, Wimbush would've been eating turf all night
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
We have some offensive line talent coming in class of 2019 but maybe more interior linemen not the outside tackles at this point but still early.
What often works for stud, top level NFL LTs are guys who come in as jumbo TEs then grow into the position. Could've been Wheatley and might be Hayes. Which is great. I'd be fine taking 1-2 of these kinds of athletes every year regardless of "star" ranking because sometimes you really hit on a homerun.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
The O Line class coming in is solid with the #130 player, #276 #392, and #512 coming in. That’s solid, but that’s not what the teams we want to compete with are bringing in. In the last 2 classes Ohio State is bringing in 7 O Line recruits in the top 80.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:36 PM ^
It might be shitty but if we can somehow manage to get 2 of Keegan, Ike, or Benhart to commit, one of those players in a guard-tackle toss up position should be given a firm handshake. We can NOT take anymore guys who end up moving inside
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:54 PM ^
I really want Benhart... am afraid we get neither and settle on a 6'5 T and then find out hes going inside...having seen this movie over and over..
September 4th, 2018 at 12:20 AM ^
I agree we need to recruit better, but IMO that won’t happen until we play very well and make the playoff.
I always wonder how Wisconsin fields a very good OL every single year while recruiting very average. Oddly enough they actually pulled a 5 star this year. An offensive tackle from Michigan...
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^
This is bullshit... Someone please point me to the specific points in one of the "every snap" videos where 3 sacks are all Runyan's fault. I don't know nor do I care who the fuck Zach Shaw is.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
If I recall, the line changed the cadence for/during game?? Anyways, what is impossible for us to know is if the result of one player is technique, didn’t Make the right Read or call.
Harbaugh is not going to throw any kid under the bus at a press conference. Assume JIM stated there are going to be changes to line. A reporter would inquire about a perticulare player. You think harbaugh wants that player or other player off his team to face scruntity from the media because his head coach didn’t have his back? Harbaugh is a smart coach, and there is plenty of season to adjust. This was the same coach you dialed up the play calling get against OSU.
Have faith
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^
I agree. I’m guessing one is at the 3:16 mark of the 1st quarter. If you watch, Runyan picks up his guy. What happens in the play is that a late rusher comes from the middle of the line to the exterior and around Runyan, who is already blocking someone. At the same time, Bredeson (who’s guy gets the sack) watches his guy disengage, then engages with Runyan. I blame Bredeson for not going to the outside of Runyan to pick up his man. Shea gets sacked, and should have seen him coming. Not only that, Shea went full Devin Gardner and ran us out of field goal range.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:54 PM ^
I think Bredeson is best slated to RT
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:05 PM ^
I don’t know if 3 sacks were all his fault, but I did rewatch the game and he was solely responsible for several blown up plays. JBB also had a handful, the pick was mostly on Ruiz and a poor decision by Shea. Saw Onwenu make one big mistake. Higdon actually did quite well in pass pro.
But Runyan was clearly the weakest link, and I think UFR will bear that out.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:51 PM ^
I hate Michigan-based recruiting and board analysts talking down Michigan and its players. That's just not right.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
What do you mean? I'm not a analyst
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
Sounds like Ulizio 2017. The guy was clearly not ready to play but they convinced themselves that he was an overachiever. They need to get Hudson in right away and let him learn against weaker competition. Runyan will get destroyed in the meat of our schedule anyway.
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
Wow. If true, that is something.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
It’s not Runyan’s fault that he’s the best tackle we’ve got. He should be here, but he should be 3rd string. The reason he’s not third string is a series of various failings to get better tackles in here. Sucks that we’re here and it sucks that JRJr is going to take the heat for many other people’s failings
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:16 PM ^
I feel bad for Runyan. He is playing way out of position.
If he is shaky against weaker competition they should stick in some young guys with higher upside and take their lumps. I cant imagine it could be any worse. But then again thats what I thought about this years line.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
This is getting old. Runyan or the OL did not lose this game. Yeah. They are easy targets given the past. This was a whole team effort of bone headed mistakes. Had the defense shown up in the first half with their heads on straight, we would possibly be singing a different tune. The terrible penalties and giving up long 3rd downs lost this game more than Runyan or the OL did. Get off these guys back. They will figure it out.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^
I think we need the UFR to get done before we make any concrete conclusions. But simple watch showed bad OL in pro sets - 3 sacks, a forced INT and a fumble - all dorks due to shit OL pass pro. Just the same issue as last year. QB is better but OL is not.
Out of the spread not issue, Shea could find his man good enough and get big yards. The issue is the run game from the spread. But if we want to beat a top-10 team, it is not coming from our OL controlling the game. Rather it will come from Shea in the spread getting the ball to playmakers in space - and damn we have the weapons as shown in this game with Evans, DPJ, Nico, Martin, Perry, Gentry, etc.
Pep Hamilton might need a lobotomy to get the right offensive scheme going this year.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
I didn't see that. Spread sets that got the ball out were fine, but they were in heavy as well on quick hitters too. I actually thought going 5 wide resulted in a lot of pressures simply because the defense knew they could pass rush with abandon.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:21 PM ^
I just did a quick review of the Michigan play-by-play and out of the spread sets Shea was about 72% completion rate but under the West-coast stuff he was less than 50% and was sacked 3 times with the INT and the forced fumble. The 3-read pro-set stuff needs to get shit-canned.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:27 PM ^
Did you compare rushing yards out of each set too? My impression was we didn't get much on the ground out of those. Wasn't exactly great out of the I formation either, but my impression was it was noticeably better. Anyway, you don't need complex routes and reads out of the heavy sets either, could dial up some of the quick hitters, which I thought we did. From memory, the pass pro issues weren't from long progressions so much as instant pressure.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
After watching the Shea every pass YouTube clip it was painfully obvious that Runyan looked overwhelmed. He blocked some plays nicely but he wasn't consistent.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^
Hoke and Drevno totally whiffed on OT. Newsome was the man but he is a medical casualty. So we are plugging an OG into OT duty. Ain't' great but coaches need to scheme around the isssue and not be so f-ing stubborn. Need to go all out spread with Shea. Need to quick hit passes to Evans, DPJ and Nico. Plenty of short pass weapons and then wing it deep on RPO fades. Time to adapt to reality or go 8-5 again.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:58 PM ^
Change “Hoke” to “Harbaugh” and you are spot-on. This is Year 4. Personnel issues are now on Jim’s failings and other unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:04 PM ^
JBB and Jon are Hoke recruits. Newsome was also a Hoke recruit, but is a medical casualty. Drevno whiffed at OT, but next year Hudson or Stueber or Filiaga will step up. But 19 year old lineman this year don't cut it in the B1G (very often). Let's be real here.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:14 PM ^
To say Drevno whiffed when Drevno was hired by Harbaugh is giving Jim a free pass. Where are the OT’s from the 2016 class? That’s on Drevno, who worked for Jim. Let’s truly get real here.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
OL is one of the positions where you can plausibly still blame the previous staff and transitional costs in year 4. It just takes a lot of time and bullets to turn out a silid starting 5. That said, Drevno and Harbaugh whiffed hard on tackles in year one as well and that certainly isn't helping now.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^
Good grief, are we still blaming Hoke for Harbaugh’s O-Line failures in year four? This is getting pathetic people.
Last time I checked, it’s been Harbaugh in charge of making sure this team gets developed and actually improved each season, not Brady Hoke. If guys are still terrible by year four of the new guy, it’s not the previous coach’s fault.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:58 PM ^
Runyan seemed to blow a lot of run blocks too.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:06 PM ^
Runyan didn't play great, but that first sack it seemed like somebody didn't slide over to get the delayed ND rusher, but I'm not sure that was Runyan's job (I don't know the blocking scheme on the play) second sack featured basically 3 guys getting to Patterson at the same time, the third was that mad scramble at the end with the fumble. Runyan didn't play even good, but this analysis seems a bit reductive.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:18 PM ^
The first play is on Runyan for failing to execute the block on a DL stunt. He should've been on an high alert the moment the DE went to the inside and DT looping around him for a sack.
The 2nd one is on Shea for holding onto the ball too long. It's a Spider Y 2 Banana play where he's supposed to pass it to the FB or the TE. If both are covered, he should throw the ball away but instead he held onto the ball too long. The OL and Higdon did their job. Could Higdon do a better job of holding up the defender but he did just enough to delay the rush.