Warriner Discusses Tackles

Mayfield thinks he is ready and should be starting.   If his growth trajectory is legit now seems like it’s the time to get him his snaps.

I am sure it’s tough to send a hard working upperclassmen to the bench but it’s about the Team right?  

That quotation at the bottom of the article makes it sound like that in isolation, but without the full interview, I'm not sure if what he said was narrowed by a specific question about Hudson. 

Hmm.  I didn't read it like that.   He basically said "the best player will play."  I am not sure what is atypical about that.

Normally that's the case, but the writing is on the wall. I think he's trying to use this to motivate Hudson and Mayfield to try and take that extra step. Plus if Runyan and JBB get their feelings hurt over this, I can't imagine how bad it was for them in film after the Notre Dame game. 

I think ND's DEs did a fine job of lighting fires under our tackles. 

I'm less inclined to worry about "coded messages" during the season, especially when we've all seen the issue. It's no secret that Michigan's tackles are a real trouble spot. I'm sure that Runyan and JBB are working really, really hard to improve; that they got to play most of a blowout tells me that the staff is giving them every chance to do so.

But the ceiling is low for these guys. The guys behind them want to play and they have a chance to get good enough to do so.

Yeah, and there's really no downside to saying something like this about OL as opposed to your QB.  So much of the quarterback position is about confidence and being in the right mindset that they usually don't like to openly shake that confidence.

But with most other positions, if you can light a fire under the incumbents AND the backups (because if they know they're close, they'll go the extra bit to get there), it probably helps both.

Someone reported that Hudson has been RT pretty much all camp/season.  Not sure if that is accurate, but if it is, it would seem odd to do that and expect him to replace the LT.  Especially given his limited experience.

FWIW, the coaches said Runyan was penciled in for sure before they said JBB would be a starter. Usually, you want your better OT protecting the blindside. I think JBB is closer to being passed than Runyan. Also, it's preferable to have guys get reps at the position they will be playing.

This sounds like the absolute right way to coach this to me. It increased my confidence in Warriner and upholds the notion that they want the young guys to take over

Here's what I don't get.  Wouldn't putting them in there help them get ready?  If a switch is possible/likely doesn't that mean that the younger guys are already "close" to those playing?  Never mind, answered below by RoseInBlue.

“But the next guys in at a lot of positions are young. We’ll just bring them along at the right pace. If you put a young guy in there before he’s ready, you could ruin him, really set him back. If you bring him along at a pace he can handle, then you’ve got something for a long time.”

Well, you're usually going against the opposing teams best pass rusher when you're at LT.  So yes, there is absolutely many scenarios in which you'd get blown out at LT by the teams best/quickest DE, but could manage against a slower anchor/SDE.

I think that's exactly where JBB exists right now. Not good enough to be lousy at LT because he'd get blown out by most WDEs/OLBs but playable (by necessity) at RT against SDEs.  I think because of that, you can be a little bigger and slower (and hopefully a better run blocker) at RT because the guys you're playing against are bigger and slower.

Length and footwork/speed speed seem to be more important at LT. These are to counter the speed rush moves that more commonly come from elite pass rushers on that side of the line. An LT needs to be able to move his feet quickly to set up and seal off the angle of an outside speed rush. He also  should have have long, strong arms so that even when he loses a bit of outside leverage he is still able to fight the pass rusher and impede his flow to the QB. Good feet and long arms also help counter a quick DE or OLB's spin move and other moves/transitions from an inside to outside pass rush. Put another way, your LT needs to be able to quickly move his feet and/or use his long strong arms to transition from an outside seal to inside if the DE makes an initial outside pass rush move and then dives inside. The fact that a right handed QB can see what that the DE on the RT side is doing as well as the fact that the DE/OLB on that side may be a notch down as far as talent/speed means an RT can give up a little bit on both areas that LTs are asked to excel. Traditionally RTs have also been asked to run block more, so they may be a bit more of a mauler, but I'm not sure that is as true as it was years ago.

But Kyle Kalis got thrown into the fire early and look at how he turned out

wait

their ceiling

Is it the fire when the opponents are WMU, SMU, Nebraska and Northwestern?  Notre Dame Opening night?  Absolutely, but the idea was the young tackles could work through some things with lesser opponents.  By the time we reached the meat of the schedule, their confidence would be there.  Hopefully that’s the plan.

Very true but you know the old saying:

"Desperate times call for desperate press conferences"

Or something like that.