After starting just one game during his first three years with the Michigan Wolverines’ football program, left tackle Jon Runyan proceeded to start 24 of the club’s next 26 from 2018-19.
He turned into one of the squad’s most reliable players while serving as an anchor at left tackle, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches in both 2018 and 2019.
He is not projected to go high in the NFL draft, however (most of the projections have him as either a sixth or seventh-round pick, or undrafted), which is a big reason he’s pitching his versatility as a selling point to organizations.
“There are a lot of different opinions [on where teams see me playing at the next level],” he said today. “I see myself projecting more inside at the next level, but I’ll always have the capabilities to kick out to tackle based on my athletic abilities.
“I played center my first year at Michigan, so I still have that too. I would match up pretty well inside against opposing interior linemen, in terms of my athletic abilities.
“I enjoy both aspects of each position; it’s a lot more physical inside as a guard, because someone is on you as soon as the ball is snapped.
“You have to react to defensive ends as a tackle, and I found myself pretty good at that. I relied on my technique and played very well against some outstanding defensive ends.
“It’s just been fun being here and meeting guys I’ve played with and against on all levels. This has been a lifelong dream to come down to the combine, having watched it ever since I was a little kid.
“I’m trying to put my best foot forward and take every rep and every meeting one at a time.”
Runyan (and the Michigan offensive line as a whole) turned in one of his best showings of the year on Nov. 30 against Ohio State, when he and the rest of U-M’s front five held OSU junior defensive end Chase Young — who was widely viewed as the best defensive player in the nation — in check.
He racked up 16.5 sacks and 21 tackles for loss on the year, and the Wolverines’ offensive line limited him to zero sacks, no TFLs and zero tackles.
Then-redshirt freshman right tackle Jalen Mayfield was the primary Wolverine working against him, but Runyan saw his share of action against Young as well.
“I came to understand Chase’s game and found he’s not a big bull-rushing guy, but instead wants to beat you with speed,” Runyan explained.
“If he beats you, he’s going to hit the quarterback hard. He once beat me and hit [U-M quarterback] Shea [Patterson], and I felt so bad because I heard Shea exhale when Chase threw him on the ground.
“That was the one hit I let up on him and I apologized to Shea. It was on a third down and late in the game, but I got into a rhythm against him.
“I knew I had to get him on the snap count, and I feel like I did pretty well for myself going against the [likely] second overall pick.
“We wanted to slide to where he was, and OSU figured that out early. We would then slide toward the three-technique, and they found out our plan and we started incorporating the chip stuff in there and it worked.
“We’d go empty protection and slide away from him, and just tried to give him different looks. Some people said we triple-teamed him, but I don’t think you can ever triple-team someone because it doesn’t make sense mathematically.
“I have a lot of respect for him and know he’s going to do great in the NFL.”
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