The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1051817
24 THE WOLVERINE DECEMBER 2018 "We did a good job, starting with Cesar communicating up and down the line. "When we knew there was going to be pressure, we could get into our schemes we had against pressure. Those little nuances that are involved in that were really helpful." Warinner has always been a zone- first guy — in layman's terms, that involves being responsible for an area rather than one-on-one blocking against a guy lined up across from you — explaining that zone-heavy lines have the ability to block against all defenses. Michigan's attempts to mix power and zone last year resulted in more confusion than anything, something they haven't had to contend with this season. "I think the changes come, obvi- ously, with the offensive scheme we've been running," Runyan said. "Some of the defenses … you can't re- ally run certain looks against certain defenses. We can't really run power against an odd front. That's kind of just beating your head against a wall when you keep trying to do that. You can't run iso against an odd front." Runyan refused to place all the blame on scheme, however. "I don't really think we did a good job as an offensive line," he said of last year. "When a play's called, you've got to run it, no matter what. I don't think we did a good job block- ing those up. Sometimes the scheme might not have been there, as well. This year has definitely been really great [in that respect]. "But scheming up four-down, three-down fronts and plays that are good against those and the in- side zones we were running against Michigan State to wear them down in the belly plays — that's what they did. We wore them down and we were able to bleed out the clock at the end of the game. It's been really nice to have." INDIVIDUAL IMPROVEMENT HAS BEEN STARTLING Talk after the Wolverines' disap- pointing loss at Notre Dame was how quickly the young guys could improve to supplant Runyan and Bushell-Beatty in the starting lineup. Harbaugh was asked about it fre- quently, but he insisted there would be no changes made and that the five who started against the Irish would get their chance to improve and jell. He made the right call. Bushell-Be- atty in particular was challenged to be more consistent, and his play has stood out more often than not — and for all the right reasons this year. "He's in much better physical condi- tion than what I thought for sure in the spring," Warinner said. "I think he's grown a lot. He's more confident, talks more … he has some things we want him to get better at so we're still push- ing him along. He can still be a better player than he is, but he's made a lot of progress." At center, Ruiz looked like a sopho- more making his first start at the po- sition (which, not coincidentally, he was) when he struggled with Notre Dame's stout front. He's since shown signs of becoming a future All-Big Ten offensive lineman, playing with great poise and starting to develop a nasty streak. Every play starts with the center making the call, and he's gotten better and better. "He's contributing a lot to that of- fensive line," Harbaugh said. "The center position is one of leadership and making calls and adjustments, and he's been outstanding there." But he's not doing it alone, Warinner noted. "The communication with that, the offensive line tries to set that," Warin- ner said "Cesar will call out the protec- tions and Ben is his right-hand man. He and Ben are looking at things. "We have the tackles involved in that, the quarterback is involved in that … it's a group effort. We're get- ting the quarterback the time to look through his progressions and we're getting some hits down the field on those. "I think it's just consistency in their technique and understanding the protections and not changing one of them." Junior running back Tru Wilson put it more succinctly. After 10 games, junior right guard Michael Onwenu was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the team's top pass blocker with a 90.8 grade, which tied for 11th nationally among all linemen. He has allowed just two QB hurries in 276 pass blocks. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL