Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner has coached his share of elite lines in his career, and he’s trying to build another at U-M. He’s taken precautions to not put all of his starters in the same room when they’re not practicing “just in case” COVID makes the rounds, but said he’d be comfortable with many of his backups playing meaningful snaps.

Ideally, of course, his starting five will be healthy and ready to go in Saturday night’s opener at Minnesota (7:30 p.m., ABC). From left to right, redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes, redshirt junior Chuck Filiaga, fifth-year senior Andrew Vastardis, redshirt junior Andrew Stueber and redshirt sophomore Jalen Mayfield provide plenty of beef and at least some experience.

Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis has spoken of different ways a more athletic line could shine in the running game, but there’s still a lot of mass inside between 345-pound Filiaga and 339-pound Stueber.

Regardless, Warinner said, the big guys can move.

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“I do think we have a very athletic group, and even though those two guys in there are big guys, they move well,” he said. “They’re good in space. It just allows us to have more plays with linemen potentially in space pulling, whether pulling to the perimeter or pulling inside.

“It just allows us to have some more schemes; a few more schemes that are becoming very popular in college football that we like, as well. I just think they are good overall big men that move around well.”

And he’s got depth. Redshirt frosh Karsen Barnhart is one of those guys that’s going to be a factor at tackle, he said, and true freshman Zak Zinter and redshirt frosh Trevor Keegan are going to be in the mix at guard. Redshirt frosh Zach Carpenter and freshman Reece Atteberry are also getting lots of snaps at center.

Others continue to develop, though he doesn’t have the luxury of giving them all the same amount of reps.

“The defensive line, they come at us in waves in practice, and that tends to be the new thought process on the defensive line. On the offensive line, it’s more, ‘get your five guys and try to get them to jell, work together and play,’” he said.

“The other thing is, it’s hard to develop linemen and have lots of linemen ready to go and to get them ready. They need as many reps as your starting quarterback. You don’t usually have three starting quarterbacks ready … it’s hard to have three left tackles ready. We have a couple guys, though, that have really developed that are close to being starters that could play a role in games, and we’d feel comfortable with them in the games.”

He doesn’t anticipate a lot of rotation Saturday, though, assuming all goes well with the starters. He might need to do it more if it were a 90-degree opener in September, but the forecast at kickoff is 33 degrees.

“This is lineman weather,” he said. “They don’t really get tired in this kind of weather.”

And while he’d like to play more than five people, there’s also something to be said for building chemistry between five starters playing together for the first time.

That’s one of the reasons he’s taken steps to ensure their safety in a time of COVID. It could spell doom should one position group all come down with the virus and be sidelined for three weeks, and it’s something Warinner admitted keeps him awake at night.

“Those guys do operate in proximity in practice. What I’ve done non-practice is split them up. Between the first team and second teams, they’re not all in the same room,” he said. “There’s five of them between the first and second unit in one room, five between the first and second in another room.

“If one room for some reason got COVID and they declared that unit couldn’t play for three weeks, the other room still could win the game because there are at least two or three starters in each room, then the next best player. We have it all matched up.”

He’d love to have a few more weeks of preparation — usually he gets them for a month in pads, this year it was three weeks — but he’s ready to roll out his five and see what they can do.

NOTES

• Getting enough reps for everyone and teaching without pads was one of the biggest adjustments Warinner had to make this year, especially with the inexperience on the line.

“Some weren’t so young … they just don’t have a lot of game experience, but they’ve been in the system,” he said. “But how to get the young guys behind them … everyone else is pretty young, and how to bring them all together, how to develop their skills, how to get them to play fast and do it without equipment on. We came up with some pretty good things.

“I think we fell into some things that really started working for us, got them going in individual periods where we work by ourselves, then just carried it over to pads. I’ve been around long enough to know how to get a group ready in pads, but it was a shorter window … but it’s all been good. You just have to be creative, use different methods, techniques. It forces you to be better with your feet without equipment on — feet and hands. You don’t use your shoulders and head gear as much.”

• Those worried about a former walk-on starting at center shouldn’t be, Warinner said. Vastardis has made huge strides and has been one of the leaders throughout the extended camp.

“He’s a 'go blue' guy, a hard worker, smart, tough,” he said. “Whenever he got his crack, his opportunity, he took off. Last year we had Cesar Ruiz, a top, top-level player. Stephen Spanellis was playing behind him. Steve decide to go to the portal and transfer. All of a sudden Vastardis saw his opportunity and seized it.

“He’s always been a leader. There’s something about availability, being to work every day, being at work on time, working hard, being tough, smart. He never missed a day all summer, never had a setback, never had contact tracing issues or anything that knocked him out of participation. He’s had as many reps as anybody in the program since March. He’s shown it going against our ones on a consistent basis and playing at a high level. I’m excited for him and to see him get his opportunity.”

He has no bigger fan than Warinner, the coach said, and he can’t wait to watch him.

“They call him the Mack Truck now because goes hard. He’ll hit you,” Warinner praised.

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