Jon Runyan ruminates about the offensive line
Runyan was much maligned early in the season, with more than a few of the MGoIntelligensia opining that he'd be doing woodwork on the sidelines by this point in the season. Runyan acknowledges some tough times, that how players are graded in the room isn't always exactly how they are graded by others, and he let leak that Michigan won't run power plays against an odd number front. I admit I'm not savy enough about such things to understand why that may be, I just enjoy player interviews, especially when they're riding on a carpet of success.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:29 AM ^
What a wonderful young man. So proud of what he has accomplished. Looking forward to his improvement this week and pounding the PSU. Bright future ahead of him. Thank God for our OL coach.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Ed Warinner and Luke Yaklich are two of the most effective assistant coaching hires I've seen in either sport. We're lucky as hell to have them.
October 31st, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
Can I add Don Brown and LaVall Jordan? Immediate impact, nationally recognized dudes.
October 31st, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
Sherrone Moore, Al Washington
October 31st, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
Yes, Warinner and Yaklich turned weaknesses into strengths. As good as a lot of other assistants are or have been, those two have had the most immediate impact, at least in my memory.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:31 AM ^
The "no power plays into an odd man front" might be part of what Warriner has referenced in some interviews. Basically most teams are either inside/outside zone or power/inside zone teams, very few teams run all three (especially in college, limited practice times and whatnot). Warriner has stated that he sees no issue with running all of these, the "catch" being that they won't try to run all three against all types of defenses. So if upcoming opponent tends to have defensive setup/philosophy "A", the gameplan will probably drop one of the 3 or will only run one of the 3 against a certain look.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:34 AM ^
He didnt “leak” anything. The fact that Michigan doesn’t want to be running Power against odd fronts is not a secret.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
I mean maybe it's not a secret to you, but I'm not sure if James Franklin knows. So just keep that under the hat for another week.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^
Timeout! I mean never mind.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:16 AM ^
I get that this is a callback to last weekend when Franklin tried to call an unnecessary timeout, but I feel some self-awareness is needed here. We, the Michigan fanbase, don't need to be making "Timeout" jokes. It's a one-step process to turn that around and throw it right in our faces.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
I disagree. It's funny because we've lived through it.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
any other week should be fine but you are aware who will be our honorary captain on Saturday, aren't you?
October 31st, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
You're right. Surely if we don't make fun of Franklin no one will ever bring up Webber's mistake again.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
Bad week for that joke with CWebb back in town
October 31st, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
too soon. . .
October 31st, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^
What James Franklin knows won't hurt us.
October 31st, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
Post of the day.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
Plus Penn State is an even front team anyways. It's not even relevant to our next opponent.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:36 AM ^
He's a really intelligent kid. Every offensive lineman seems so well spoken on this team. Love it.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
FWIW almost ALL O lineman are really intelligent. For whatever reason I found when recruiting that particular position group seemingly always had the brightest kids of any on the team.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
OL is the position with the highest wonderlic scores at the NFL combine.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Yup that is absolutely true and it's not even close to any of the others. And apparently that news is not being well received by someone here for reasons unknown.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
I'm not trying to oversimplify it here, but it's because the dumb ones don't play offensive line. If you're big and dumb, you either won't make it or you'll play on the DL.
On the offensive side of the ball, we don't let dumb linemen play. Why? Because if they miss a block, slide the wrong way, don't understand the protections, etc., they cause turnovers and/or injuries to your most valuable players (QB, RB). So the big guys who aren't smart end up playing on defense, where their mistakes might cost yardage and points but won't cause injuries.
Right now we have about 4 linemen in our program who are defense-only.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
Well look whose back! Busy over at TTB, coaching or life in general?
FWIW even though for years I was convinced one of your hobbies was busting my balls here I do appreciate your intelligent input and recruiting/player development updates.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^
It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearin' Milk Bone underwear.
Life, coaching, TTB, etc. are keeping me pretty busy these days. I read but I don't comment a ton right now.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Man, thanks for the tip, but there at least 10 different ways you could have made your point without calling a whole position group "dumb". Three times, to boot. I like straight info as much as the next guy, but this just felt wrong.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
He never called a whole position group dumb.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
Correct.
October 31st, 2018 at 7:43 PM ^
I’ll simplify his point for you.
All defensive linemen are not dumb but most linemen who are dumb end up on defense.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
This is why I've always had kind of a mild objection to referencing WRs, QBs, and so on as "skill" players or positions, implying that offensive linemen are simply big dumb jocks who only grunt and block.
As Magnus points out, mentally challenged O-linemen not only have trouble with complicated offensive schemes, they can get someone (a QB, for example) maimed. And lack of good coaching can achieve the same result, regardless of intelligence. Just ask Brandon Peters. The inability to recognize or pick up a stunting/blitzing linebacker in Madison WI last year almost cost Brandon his brain, and could be the reason why he's running behind Dylan today.
October 31st, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
"Defense-only" is going to be my new label on here instead of calling someone a moron.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:50 AM ^
This guy has a lot to be proud of. He went from "one of the worst OL" to "above average" pretty darn quickly.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
I wouldn't call him above average; he's average. But "average" can mean different things. There's high-variance (inconsistent with both good and bad) and low-variance (never spectacular but consistent). I know which I'd prefer for an offensive lineman.
He's rounding out into a Magnuson type, can't really move the pile like JBB or stay in front of above-average DEs like Lewan, but consistently steps in front of his man. (Side note: His game against MSU was excellent but also probably an outlier. The field conditions were bad and he fared better than most on them; I've suspected that he has mule feet because that's the way a guy with his frame survives at tackle. His Wisconsin UFR was racking up +0.5s and +1s with no minuses, Magnuson style.) I think that's why Harbaugh has been calling run plays in his direction even though he's clearly not as strong as JBB.
Runyan is getting boring, but as Brian would say, boring is good. He shouldn't be all-B1G but you can go places with a boring LT. From where he started, the transformation to low-variance is miraculous.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
His last two games have been flat out "good". Now, you might not say that his entire season has been above average, but his trend line is would have the greatest slope of any of our OL right now. If he keeps it up, there's a very good chance he gets honorable mention All-Big Ten and easily holds on to his starting job next year.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
For sure if he maintains this trendline he's going to be really something. He has to hit a wall at some point but hell, he's a serviceable tackle now.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
Yeah, if he can even just maintain the player he's been over the last two games we're going to have a great finish to this year.
October 31st, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
We get him back next year too.
October 31st, 2018 at 8:53 AM ^
I was super critical of him after the ND game but he has greatly improved. Looking back it was a tall task for the oline to be as good as it is now in the first game of the season on the road.
October 31st, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
Most of us were; he looked pretty bad. Who else thought so? Runyan, according to what he said in the interview. He said that rewatching the ND game was tough.
But he did it. He looks a lot better now.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:15 AM ^
Good watch, thanks for posting.
I’m curious who that guy is in the left of Runyan. I’ve seen him 3-4 times on these short interview videos, but he’s never asked a single question.
Go Blue!!
October 31st, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
Maybe a handler?
October 31st, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^
Agreed - usually there is an intern, assistant, communications specialist, etc., someone at media interviews that is there with the player or a coach. Obviously when a coach it tends to be a higher-ranking person. Sometimes they are closer to the camera than others. They effectively operate as the "handler" for media sessions like this.
I'm sure if you googled the names from UM's athletics directory you could find the person's picture and match it up.
October 31st, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
I thought he was going to be a disaster but he really has done a fantastic job. This is a testament to his hard work, the hard work of the team, and let's of course acknowledge Warriner for being an outstanding O-Line coach.
October 31st, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Jon Ruman runyanates about the offensive line.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Good for Mr Runyan
October 31st, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
I think Runyan has this all planned perfectly for Penn State. He SAYS we're not gonna run power into an odd man front. But then we smack em with POWER right into their odd man fronts! RPS those bitches.
October 31st, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
Ruminate is a very good word, I'd still like to imagine he was runyanating, instead.
October 31st, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
To me, the most encouraging thing about watching the team is the consistent growth and improvement that is being made by the team, and in particular the offensive line has shown this.
The only piece that would be great would be to open up the reigns on the passing game a bit more to maximize the DPJ, Collins, Gentry etc.