The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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80 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW guys, the hard-working mentality they brought every day, the joy they have for the game," he said. "It really rubs off on you, especially when you're playing next to them. "They really made it fun to play. If you'd get beat on one play, they'd tell you not to hang your head and move on to the next play. There was always stuff you could work on, but they were always there to have your back." They put their trust and belief in him, even when he was having trouble believing in himself. They were even more encouraging when Stueber went down with his injury, a blow not only to the team's depth but also its psyche. That allowed Mayfield to put his head down and work even harder. "That competition definitely brought out a lot of competitiveness not only between us two, but as an offense as a whole," he recalled. "Everybody on offense gets after it in practice. I think the battle Andrew and I were going through really just kind of signi- fied how tight knit a group we had. There was competition all over the field for play- ing time, and I think that's what fueled us to have a pretty good year on the offensive side. "But it was really hard. You never want to see anybody get injured, especially when you're in a competition. Andrew is a good friend of mine. It really made me realize anything can happen at any point, and I re- ally felt bad for Stueb." Mayfield realized it was his time and he had play well enough to "make him happy and proud of me." "After he got hurt, I really put that on my shoulders and tried to do it for both of us the whole season," he added. Should Stueber come back strong — and by all accounts he's on pace to return at 100 percent when fall camp starts — the duo could be on the field not only at the same time, but next to one another. Stueber is one of the favorites to capture the right guard position, and Mayfield plans to stay at right tackle after flirting with the idea of moving to the left side. Warinner didn't have spring ball to ex- periment with lineups, so it will be a crash course for many when they return this fall. He should have close to a sure thing on one end of the line, though, and a leader in Mayfield. "It's just about trying not to mix too much up," Mayfield said. "We'll have a whole new line, and I know Ryan is comfortable on the left side, where he played early on. It's best for both of us, so I didn't want to mess anything up. "[Warinner] will get the best out of us. He really challenges you. You may not like it sometimes, may think he's hard on you, but he really does push you and he wants you to be great." Warinner had developed an outstanding young right tackle by the end of last year. When it started to click, Mayfield just got better and better. With his athleticism, drive and intelligence, his ceiling appears to be extremely high. "It was just not second-guessing myself on the field," Mayfield said. "Trusting in everything I was taught and went over for the week. "I found myself second-guessing myself early in the season, thinking a little too much and not going out and playing. Once I got it out of my head like I did later in the season, it really picked up." Embracing The Moment By the end of the 2019 campaign, May- field and his linemates were rolling. They dominated in rivalry games against Notre Dame and Michigan State, and crushed In- diana, piling up 453 yards and excelling in pass protection in a 39-14 road blowout most picked to be much closer. When Ohio State came to town with Heis- man Trophy candidate and elite defensive end Chase Young, the line couldn't have been more ready. "We felt a lot of hype coming into the game about him, a lot of stuff circulating with his name," Mayfield recalled. "The of- fensive line as a whole tends to take pride in that and the matchups we have, but we knew it was going to be a tough one. He's a great, great player." U-M's mindset, though, was that they were one of the best lines in the country, and they wanted to prove it on a stage with everybody watching. They entered the game with a different approach than most teams employed against Young during the year. Mayfield started every game last season and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention. PHOTO BY BRANDON BROWN