Ed Warinner Presser - OL in Fall Camp Update
Summary:
Re: timeline for Steuber, no update, medical staff is working with him to see how quickly he can come back.
Honingford confirmed as moving to tackle backup following Steuber injury (he had been playing RG). Vastardis is playing some center/right guard and playing well, which let them feel good about moving Honingford out there. Joel's only been there a couple days but has looked really comfortable. Was tried there last year and didn't look good, but Ed is impressed with him and thinks it could be his position down the road as well. Pass protection improved.
Backup Line is: Honingford RT, Vastardis RG, Spanellis C, Chuck Filiaga at LG, Ryan Hayes LT
Collective improvements: offseason work was great. He felt all the starters had improved by spring ball from where they were at the end of the season. Felt like in August they came in with improved conditioning, more fit, and made physical changes they needed to. Losing fat, adding muscle mass. He could see physically they were better as of day one of fall camp.
Group feels different to him than when he walked in the door last year. There were so many unknowns and now he's got a group of guys with a lot experience. Young guys are still developing, and there's some talented guys in there.
Mike Onwenu is moving really well with his new body composition. Expecting a big year there.
Re: adjustment to blocking RPOs - there's some challenges to it, do some more man blocking which presents some challenges as they have to follow their guys, but they still coach the basics - First Step. Second Step, Violent Hands, and Finish. There's nuances to the new offense, so for the veterans the adjustments are.new terminology, no huddle, communicating the system without a huddle with shorter time period to adjust. That was the spring and first week of fall camp but past that now.
What he likes about the new offense: spreading people out, finding matchups, putting athletes in space - makes it much easier to read the defense when you spread people out. He's been in a spread since 2003 and last year was first offense that huddled that he's coached in. Most of the basic stuff he's familiar with minus some really new wrinkles that Gattis brings.
This new offense can protect the defense by scoring more points. Explosive plays mean you might not control the clock. The whole point is to get guys open in space with the ball so they may be scoring quickly and give up controlling the clock. Need to/Focused on minimizing turnovers, not having negative yardage plays, and be explosive and go score. If you have a 20 yard or more play on any drive, you double your chance of scoring on that drive.
Re: the change of his coaching philosophy over his career - still focused on the fundamentals, still uses some of the same old theories, feels like all the modern offense stuff is just an evolution of the old option football stuff he was doing at Army when he started.
Stueber/Mayfield battle at the time of the injury: They'd rotated evenly in spring within 1 play, fall camp had seen the same rotation - they were fighting it out. However it would have fallen they both would have played a lot - 60/40 split or something. Now focused on getting Ryan Hayes to that point.
Thoughts on Freshman: overall a great group of six guys. Doing a great job. Three guys are OT (Barnhart, Keegan, Jones) that he loves and wants to get the 4 games and hasn't made a decision for definite redshirts there, and three guys inside (Carpenter at Center. Rumler, Stewart). Hit the mark on all these guys. He thinks a couple may be able to push into the two deep.
Ryan Hayes is close - around 300 lbs, so now needs time on task. He has only played OL for 1.5 years compared to guys who are OL their whole lives, so he is still figuring out how to new situations. Ed believes OL fail on a play either because they are poorly coached or they haven't had enough time on task to learn that situation so they're working on eliminating their side which is making sure he knows what to do. He has the talent and effort, just need more time on task and some more coaching up.
Impressions of D-Line: They are a challenge to go against and are pretty "salty" - he's impressed at the leve of play and depth there - could be 7-8 deep. Practice is a war, gamelike.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Thank you for the outstanding summary!
All the right words are coming together from each of the coaches. What started with Gattis' hiring is looking more and more like a real thing, because the coaches are all saying the same things - without sounding like a rehearsed speech! I'm really beginning to love what the offense could be!!
It's also fun to hear talk of a 2-deep where an injury just doesn't kill it off. It's been a long time since the Michigan OL was the Michigan OL...
August 19th, 2019 at 8:08 PM ^
Actually close to 3-deep if the frosh are all developing and likely to push for the 2-deep this year. Amazing how quickly the OL situation has rectified after 3 years of decline under Drevno.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
I like what I hear about the D line. For the first time since I was doing beer bongs at tail gates I’m actually at ease with Oline coachspeak.
August 19th, 2019 at 10:04 PM ^
I still do beer bongs at tailgates.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
Great line play is so essential to having success. Both offense and defense.
Can't wait to see our guys battle it out in the trenches ??
August 19th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
"Practice is a war, gamelike."
No more casualties please.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:44 PM ^
As Keith Jackson would have so eloquently stated - "The big uglies up front are buttin heads."
Would love to see our O-Line dominate like they did in the good ole days...
August 19th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
This might be too soon, but I hear Keith has passed. Should I post it on the board?
August 19th, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
"Elephants in the game."
August 19th, 2019 at 1:45 PM ^
OP, this is a seriously awesome summary. Much appreciated!
My impression is that the team feels really good about the O, and knows that they are going to put up a ton of points. The confidence is noticeable.
While the coaches are saying the right things about the D, there does seem to be a bit of a collective recognition that the D may not be elite (talk about the offense needing to "protect" the D by scoring lots of points and scoring quickly, etc.). We will see how much of a concern this is as the season goes on. In the past, my view was always that if I had to choose, I would prefer a dominant D to a dominant O, but in modern football, I think that a dominant O with a competent D gets the job done.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:56 PM ^
"...there does seem to be a bit of a collective recognition that the D may not be elite (talk about the offense needing to "protect" the D by scoring lots of points and scoring quickly, etc.)."
I chose to read that in a different way. As I look at it, I see recognition that the defense of the past few years had to protect the offense, and it wasn't always capable of doing so (ref: 2018 OSU, and fork your eyes out). I think, this year, the offense knows it'll be capable of doing so, and are happy to say it. (Perhaps to take some pressure off, and let the D guys play a little looser? Maybe, I dunno.)
I'm not discounting you're take - you could be 100% correct. But I hope you're wrong!
August 19th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
While the coaches are saying the right things about the D, there does seem to be a bit of a collective recognition that the D may not be elite (talk about the offense needing to "protect" the D by scoring lots of points and scoring quickly, etc.).
I think that the coaching staff is collectively recognizing that ALL defenses are going to struggle against good “modern” offenses. That doesn’t mean you just give up on defense, but it means that the expectations for what a good defense is have changed. Look at Michigan vs. IU — they always seem to stress the defense and we all wonder, “what happened?!” Nothing happened, it’s just really hard (near impossible) to completely shut down even an decent “modern” offense. End result, do your best of defense, and score A TON of points.
Michigan’s defense has been well equipped to deal with what it will face, it’s been the offense that didn’t have a 2nd and 3rd gear when needed. That should be different now.
August 19th, 2019 at 2:14 PM ^
I think this point get missed when ppl think about osu last year. It’s difficult for defenses to slow down offenses with a QB like Haskins who could read the defense and was accurate when he had time. The offense had to be able to keep last year and it couldn’t. Given that the O 4 starters (1 a TE and another was Perry and his replacement should be an upgrade) I have little doubt it will be up to the task this year.
August 19th, 2019 at 7:06 PM ^
"It’s difficult for defenses to slow down offenses with a QB like Haskins who could read the defense and was accurate when he had time. "
This has been my take all year. More pressure up the middle would certainly help, but I saw that game as the perfect storm. OSU struggling on D all year. Then the focus on the rivalry sharpened them. Home game kept them pumping. TE dropped key balls. Haskins was on fire. Turned into a dumpster fire. This year isnt last year. The worm has turned.
August 19th, 2019 at 2:49 PM ^
The only thing that reliably and consistently shuts down the better modern offenses is a dominating defensive line that doesn't let QBs escape the pocket when there's pressure up the middle, and doesn't let them step up in the pocket if pressure is coming from the edges.
Our defensive backfield coverage (and strategy) against OSU last year might have been questionable, but the complete lack of pressure by the DL was the fatal blow, IMHO.
Very few teams have that mix of interior and edge rushers; the best Michigan defenses I can recall had that mix. Whether we can have that mix this year is a question of injuries and depth.
August 19th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
Agree with all of this; in response to the final sentence, I have serious doubts.
August 19th, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
I'll take a pretty good D and a very good offense right about now.
See: OSU under Urban
August 19th, 2019 at 1:46 PM ^
Really nice summary. I feel bad for Steuber. Hopefully he can make a full recovery. Taking the coachspeak into account, this doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the DL, especially coupled with Draftagedon today. Hopefully, the inside of the line provide a pleasant surprise.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
I almost started to feel some rising optimism as I was reading.
Thankfully I caught myself before I let it turn into actual optimism
August 19th, 2019 at 1:59 PM ^
Your commitment to pessimism hasn't wavered. May it serve you well this season.
August 19th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
But what he said is true - every year at this time the interviews are the same.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:51 PM ^
Thanks NeverPunt, well done! Good to know the 2-deep. I guess this makes the all the freshmen third string, which is the way we like it.
Wish there was more (better) news on Steubner. If there is no surgery scheduled, I'm hoping he's available in about 6 weeks (Rutgers, Iowa time-frame). PSU is two months from today. It would be great if he was healthy by then.
August 19th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Vastardis? I’ve never heard of the guy. Any info on him?
Got it - he’s a walk-on. Good for him but damn Michigan has more walk-ons on the two deep than Alabama has on the team.
August 19th, 2019 at 1:54 PM ^
yeah, what brutus said....
change the names and I'd swear I read all this last year, or maybe the year before that..
I'm ready to watch some football!!!!
August 19th, 2019 at 1:55 PM ^
Great content. Please take my upvote.
Suggested improvement for future posts: consider adopting iambic pentameter format.
August 19th, 2019 at 2:01 PM ^
Billy Shakespeare I am not - sorry if the writing is choppy as I'm just typing them up quickly as I listen with some rewinding here and there. Would love to devote more time to it but have job, must work. I am aiming for something a hair above Closed Captioning.
August 19th, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
Is your job a closed caption typist? Cuz you nailed this.
August 19th, 2019 at 3:14 PM ^
Don't change a thing. This stuff is absolute gold.
August 19th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
Best post in a long time. Thanks
August 19th, 2019 at 2:05 PM ^
You are on fire today NeverPunt!
LB is going to be one of the most interesting groups to watch this year with the SAM/Viper dynamic and the new guys inside.
Edit: meant to post this on the Anthony Campanile Presser post. I can't keep up!
August 19th, 2019 at 2:06 PM ^
As Keith Jackson would have so eloquently stated - "The big uglies up front are buttin heads."
Would love to see our O-Line dominate like old days...
August 19th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Thanks for the great summary. My only complaint is that you listed the backup line in reverse order. I had to walk around my desk to the middle linebacker position to visualize it properly.
August 19th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
Great post.
I'm optimistic about our OL. Even the lack of news on Steuber is great, IMO. Because if he were out for the year with a serious ligament tear or something, I think we would have heard about it. So there is a good chance he can be back in the mix.
Regarding "protecting the D by scoring points," that is in a response to a question about how the previous philosophy "protected" the defense with 10-minute drives. I don't read anything into that and I'm delighted with that kind of offensive philosophy. And I say this as a guy who is growing very pessimistic about our D this year; that quote is not a bad sign.
August 19th, 2019 at 6:13 PM ^
The question is dumb though, and predicated on the flawed assumption that spread/no huddle = hurry up. There's absolutely no reason you can't still eat the entire play clock, same as before, just because you don't huddle, nor do you need to throw the ball in situations that call for running. Killing clock is all about keeping the chains moving, and an effective offense is better at that regardless of style.
August 20th, 2019 at 12:19 AM ^
If you are “growing pessimistic” about this season’s defense it’s probably because you’re comparing it to the last 3 years. With the loss of so much NFL talent, it’s impossible to expect similar results.
With increased offensive production and a faster tempo, I actually think Don Brown will have the opportunity to take more chances, blitz more, try different coverages and be more creative and aggressive overall this year. My expectation is a defense that allows more points and big plays, but that forces more turnovers and creates more big plays of their own (strip sacks, pick sixes, forced fumbles, etc).
We haven’t seen very many turnovers the past 3 years under Brown because they had to be perfect to keep us in most games. That changes this year and it should be a lot more fun to watch. Don’t expect Metellus to drop the INT against OSU again. This season he takes it to the house!
August 19th, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
If Stueber had the dreaded ACL tear, surgery should have already been scheduled. Must be an MCL injury that can heal enough to play the season, then have the scar tissue scoped as needed in the offseason. MCL tears can heal without surgery whereas ACL tears require surgery to properly heal for football activities. Grade 2 MCL tears take about 3-4 weeks to rehab, so he might be back in time for B1G season given the bye week timing.
August 19th, 2019 at 5:04 PM ^
Ok, I’m drinking that Kool Aid, Waiting for years for a consistent ass kicking OL.
August 19th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^
All great news wrt the O-line! I see people worrying that the defense is going to take a step back this year, but isn't that basically a statistical certainty, given the nature of our new offense? Teams will have more TOP, run more plays, and ultimately gain more yards/score more points. It wouldn't really bother me to see us with a defense in the teens (or even low 20's) because we will (hopefully) be scoring more points ourselves. Like many have stated here, I'll be looking at our interior pass rush and secondary play but, statistically, I'll be much more focused on the per play averages and 3rd down efficiency. Soooooo close now. Go Blue!
August 22nd, 2019 at 8:16 AM ^
This new offense can protect the defense by scoring more points. Explosive plays mean you might not control the clock. The whole point is to get guys open in space with the ball so they may be scoring quickly and give up controlling the clock.
More offensive production seems to be the only way to reach the elite level in NCAA. Looking at some numbers
Last year Michigan was 41st in the country with 419.5 yrds a game. That would be enough if our defense could stop the highly talented offenses. We faced the number 2 in "The Game".
We would need 116.2 ypg to match what they averaged in ypg last year. Tho this year I just don't see Justin throwing 5100 yrds. This pro spread will be the answer.