Michigan Wolverines Football: Injured Tackles Closer To Returning
Michigan Wolverines offensive line coach Ed Warinner has never had a bigger challenge in his career than piecing together his group this year. In addition to losing four starters to the NFL and not having the spring to coaching the replacements, Warinner has had to find replacements for injured redshirt tackles Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield.
Fifth-year senior center Andrew Vastardis, too, missed the Rutgers game with an injury, replaced by redshirt freshman Zach Carpenter.
“We’re down seven starters since the Alabama game … [but] I’m pretty proud of the guys how they’re sticking together and working,” Warinner said. “You think about it — what group needed spring ball and August training camp more than my group losing four starters?
“Everybody needs it, but nobody needed it more. To not have that, and they say we’re going to play and then you have three weeks and then you’re right into game prep mode versus training camp mode …”
That’s a bit different, he continued.
“It’s been challenging. Injuries has been the biggest one everybody knows about, but we’ve had a lot of guys miss a lot of time because of contact tracing because of this or that,” he said. “You get the sniffles, you miss two days because they’re checking to see and double-checking to see, which is the right thing to do whether or not you have COVID. So, you’re out a practice, then all of a sudden you miss the two work days of practice and you’re back in and are you really ready to go when you miss the two bulk days of practice? Who knows? We’ve had all kinds of things going on that have interrupted continuity in training.
“It’s definitely been the most challenging season I’ve had to incur as a position coach. I’m just proud of the kids, and I’m proud of our program, coach [Jim] Harbaugh, the way we do business. Everything about how we’re doing it is the right way to do it, and we do the best we can with the situation we’re in every day.”
That’s meant redshirt freshmen Karsen Barnhart at left tackle and Zach Carpenter at center. Fifth-year senior Andrew Stueber has moved to tackle and frosh Zak Zinter has started at right guard.
Trying to find out where their strengths lie, what they can do in critical situations, the go-to guys, etc. is something he’d usually have spring to help figure out, but they need to see how they perform in games, too.
“We’re doing the best we can,” he said. “… We're learning a lot about our team and learning a lot about our guys. I’m learning how to coach them, how to make adjustments with them during a game, how to teach them at practice.”
He’ll have some decisions to make, too, when Hayes and Mayfield return given how well Barnhart, in particular, has played.
“[Mayfield and Hayes] are both practicing, so we’re just working, seeing how quickly they can come back,” Warinner said. “They’re both out there and doing practice reps, so it’s good to see them out there. I won’t say anything other than that, but they are not in the training room during practice. They are on the field in gear working out and we’re moving them along. They want to get back as quickly as they can, so we’ll see when that is. Both or one might be available Saturday.
“We’ll see where Vastardis is as he works his way back. He’s working hard to get back, too. So … go from there.”
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