The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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84 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Warinner talked about that at length this spring. He doesn't want anyone thinking about maintaining. It's all about continuing the climb. For the second-team All-Big Ten perform- ers, it's getting to the first team. For someone like Runyan, whom league coaches dubbed one of the two best offensive tackles in the conference, it's chasing All-America status. It's not just Warinner pushing for more. Michigan hired Juan Castillo as an offensive analyst, a long-time coach in the NFL with Philadelphia, Baltimore and Buffalo. This isn't Castillo's first rodeo with a Runyan. "He was a coach that coached my dad, almost his entire career in Philadelphia," Ru- nyan noted. "It's really crazy how small of a world it is. He's coming here and he's an ana- lyst for me. He's down for whatever, when- ever, texting me clips of stuff that he sees, always getting down to the film room when I have a question on anything, telling me drills I can work on by myself, all the time. "I'm trying to develop into a player that's not just focused on getting through every day, but wanting to develop skills, on and off the field. I think it will help me down the road, as well." Warinner gave each of his offensive line- men specifics to work on during the offsea- son. Runyan focused on them all, getting himself prepped for his last year in a Michi- gan uniform. "I had meetings with him and some of the offensive analysts, and we went through some of the tape," Runyan noted. "It was staying lower, not rising up through my blocks, being able to use my hands better. "With the help of Juan Castillo, the whole offensive line has been improving. It's help on timing things in pass sets, hands in tight. Coming into this, using my hands — people say I have short arms, but it doesn't really matter if you're able to use your hands well. I'm looking forward to how I can do that go- ing into next season." Adjusting On Offense In addition to individual improvement, Michigan linemen received the crash course — along with everyone else — in the pro spread attack new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis installed. The man flipping the switches on offense liked what he saw out of Michigan's veteran offensive linemen early on. It's not just about the skill positions, red- shirt freshman offensive tackle Jalen May- field observed. "Every position, he's on top of," Mayfield said of Gattis. "He knows what he wants from the offensive line, just like he knows what he wants from the receivers. I think it's great. He coaches us just like he coaches everybody else. "If he sees something wrong, he's going to tell you. If you do something good, he's going to tell you. I just think he's done an unbelievable job so far." Runyan maintains a comfort level, and not just because of Gattis' willingness to let the linemen know precisely what he's seeking. "I kind of ran a similar offense in high school, so I was used to it," Runyan said. "Once I got here and we went to the pro-style offense, I was kind of taken aback. I didn't know what all these words meant. Here, we're able to look to the sideline, listen to [senior quarterback] Shea [Patterson] and we know what we're doing immediately. There's not too much thinking that's involved." Runyan has witnessed other growth on the line that makes his job easier. Junior center Cesar Ruiz stepped it up in a big way, providing a commanding communicative presence, according to the fifth-year senior. "On the offensive line, as long as one person knows it, knows what Shea's telling us, we're pretty well set," Runyan said. "Ce- sar's doing a phenomenal job communicat- ing with us, up and down. It hasn't been too bad of a transition, and I'm looking forward to seeing the product actually on the field." He has a better idea of what he'll see now than he did a year ago, despite a new of- fensive coordinator settling in. At the start of 2018, Runyan just looked to establish himself, learn what Warinner wanted, etc. Now, the veteran tackle doesn't ques- tion himself, and certainly doesn't have any doubts about Warinner, after Michigan turned out all-league performers of some sort across the offensive line. "Over the last year, we proved that it's successful," Runyan said. "Going into spring ball, we all — as an offensive line unit — bought into his style and the ways Coach Warinner set forth. We're just taking it day by day, sticking to our routine and not changing it at all. It's all been working pretty successfully for us." Runyan stands increasingly convinced that what Gattis is putting forth will work as well. The fifth-year senior became an advanced student of Alabama football after head coach Jim Harbaugh brought Gattis to Ann Arbor. Runyan wanted to see what might be in store. He liked what he saw, but wondered if the Wolverines could replicate it. "Before we even started spring practice, when Coach Gattis got here, I went through According to Pro Football Focus, Runyan allowed just one sack, two quarterback hits and 11 hurries on 403 pass-blocking snaps last year. The sack, one hit and three hurries came in the season opener, but he was outstanding after that. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL "He's confident, he's communicating, he's been able to evaluate himself on tape. … He's at a whole different place than where he was a year ago at this time." OFFENSIVE LINE COACH ED WARINNER ON RUNYAN