Ed Warriner appreciation thread

Submitted by Eastside Maize on October 22nd, 2018 at 11:46 PM

Shout out to the man who deserves as much credit as anyone for the season we’re having. The progress from the ND game until now is night and day. I haven’t seen our OLine rag doll a Staee DLine in many moons. Especially pleased with the progress of Bushell-Beatty and Runyan.

bostonsix

October 22nd, 2018 at 11:51 PM ^

Coach Warinner is the best O line coach in the country... Pay the man at least 1mill a year. If we can't pay players and have bag men, let's pay to keep, and get the best position coaches possible.

uofmfan_13

October 22nd, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^

Lost in some of the (understandable) hand wringing over Hudson's abrupt departure is the fact that stud, NFL level offensive linemen, and in particular tackles, are built not recruited. In other words: stars mean little in the position block. Scouts know very little about the potential of a kid going on to play oline but coaches like Ed can make a huge difference.  Player development and moving guys into different positions to maximize potential is the mark of a good college coach.

Matte Kudasai

October 23rd, 2018 at 8:38 AM ^

Running the ball up the middle on 1st down 90% of the time wore the defense down, what?

And I'm certainly not trolling, but if you feel good about being up 7-0 at half and being tied 7-7 in the 3rd after we dominated, then that's fine.

This offense could be infinitely better right now.  The only thing holding it back, is our OC.

mgoBobbo

October 23rd, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^

According to ESPN's play by play, Michigan handed the ball off on 15 out of 27 1st down plays before the final two clock-killing drives (which were very successful clock killing drives btw).  That is hardly 90%, and I'm sure some of those were likely not "runs up the middle".  In other words, it was more like 50% "runs up the middle" on 1st down, if that.  Maybe someday that narrative will go away.

tybert

October 23rd, 2018 at 12:27 AM ^

On the 91st B-day of my late father, UM '51 and a guy who got to see two perfect seasons in his Fresh and Soph years of 47-48...he always said a great D and a steady O line means a lot of boring but big wins. Ed W, thanks for making this one of my favorite UM seasons since we started 1-2 in '80 and won the last 9 and the Rose Bowl!

1VaBlue1

October 23rd, 2018 at 7:00 AM ^

This is the OL that the Harbaughffense needs.  We're seeing it live, in action, executed better than what we had in 2016.  Note the paving being laid down not only by flattened DLine's, or by running for ~200 yds/gm, but by time of possession.  Michigan is holding the ball for ~40 minutes/game, which is insane!  You do that by grinding out 5 ypc, regardless of what the defense is doing.  The passing game is being used as a constraint, whereas most teams use it as the primary motive of their offense.

If you can't hold the ball for long periods of time against Michigan, you aren't going to score very often.  Don Brown will see to that.  Penn State...  They simply are not built to grind out yards, so they're already dead.

All hail Ed Warinner for the best OL we've seen from a Harbaugh coached team since San Fran went to the Super Bowl!!!

Ezeh-E

October 23rd, 2018 at 8:13 AM ^

This is the biggest difference I see between our running game this year and 2016: we can get the first down running three straight times into stacked boxes in the 4th. We've been able to close out games all year this way.

Some of that is that Shea can keep the ZR, some of that is the line whooping up on tired Ds, some of that is Higdon turning 2 into 4.

stephenrjking

October 23rd, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^

Concur. The 2016 line was decent. It never caved defenses in the way that this line has the last two weeks.

This year's line still has to pass a couple of tests. And if there is a playoff on the horizon, much stiffer tests await. But it's playing well enough to win the B1G right now. 

Perkis-Size Me

October 23rd, 2018 at 9:36 AM ^

Never lost faith in the man after the ND game. Progress takes time. I always remember watching Virginia Tech schooling OSU’s OL in their own stadium, and then by the end of the season, OSU’s OL was bulldozing Alabama en route to a title. 

Will Michigan’s OL get to that level this year? Don’t know. But the impact Warriner has made is undeniable. I hope he gets a raise at the end of the season.