Jon Runyan Discusses U-M's Offense, Lack Of Explosive Plays
The Michigan Wolverines’ football offense underwhelmed yet again on Saturday, posting just 10 points and 267 yards in a 10-3 triumph over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Maize and Blue didn’t have much success either on the ground or through the air (just 120 of the former and 147 of the latter), and fifth-year senior left tackle Jon Runyan was asked this afternoon what made the Hawkeyes so tough to go against.
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“Iowa had the No. 5 defense in the country coming into the game,” he began. “They play a lot of base defense and are really good at what they do, and they know the type of players they have.
“They’re a very disciplined defensive front, and they found the holes that we had. We did a good job of keeping [senior quarterback] Shea [Patterson] upright though.
“We were just happy to come out with the win — I know people were saying beforehand this was one of the most pivotal games for Michigan this year.
“Some people were saying that if we win, it wouldn’t matter because it’s only Iowa, but if we would have lost, then they would have acted like it was the worst thing ever.”
A lack of explosive plays has been especially frustrating with Michigan’s offense this year, with the Wolverines having mustered just one run longer than 18 yards the entire season.
The Maize and Blue recorded a perfectly executed 51-yard pass play from Patterson to junior receiver Nico Collins in the first quarter of Saturday’s victory, but didn’t register another ‘big play’ the rest of the game.
“I don’t know what the stats are, but it seems like Nico comes down with the ball 85 percent of the time,” Runyan exclaimed.
“He goes up there and catches it on time, even though guys are always trying to hold onto him and he’s playing through traffic.
“We don’t like to take shots randomly; we feel it out with how the game is going and the flow of it. We like taking big shots after turnovers.”
Runyan was asked to expand a bit on the team’s lack of explosive plays so far this season, and whether or not the opportunity is there for more to occur both in practice and in games.
“The run game can sometimes just come down to a guard keeping his block, or [redshirt freshman right tackle] Jalen [Mayfield] or myself keeping our heads inside a defender,” he explained.
“We pride ourselves on explosive plays and we have a quota we have to meet, and we didn’t meet it this week — we only had two explosive running and passing plays, and that’s not going to cut it against some of these other teams we face.
“Iowa’s d-end No. 94 [junior A.J. Epenesa] was giving me fits early on, but I settled in. The offensive line as a whole pass protected well, and so did the running backs — [redshirt freshman] Christian [Turner] and [freshman] Zach [Charbonnet] picked up some blitzes.
“We’re excited about the offensive line’s pass protection and how far it has come since the first couple of games.”
Notes
• Illinois redshirt junior quarterback Brandon Peters spent the first three years of his career at U-M before departing for Champaign following the 2018 campaign.
Runyan revealed this afternoon that he had actually been roommates with Peters in Ann Arbor, and discussed his time together with the signal caller and what it will be like facing him again.
“It’ll be weird," Runyan admitted. "We were roommates last year and I was with him every step of the way. I’m happy for him, even though he got banged up in their last game — I’m hoping we see him out there.
"He’s one of my good friends — it’s nothing against him, but we still have business to take care of. Brandon was still fully invested in the team [when he was here] and was a couple credits away from graduating last season, and he worked so hard in the spring.
"He took 18 or 16 credits in the spring, and that’s an accelerated course and is really hard. He was always studying and I was always just watching him. I felt bad for him but he did what was best for him.
"It was maybe around December last year [when he decided to transfer] when we were going into bowl prep for Florida. Brandon is a very quiet guy and doesn’t talk much, but I was able to get some stuff out of him every now and then.
"He was going back and forth between a few MAC schools — he’d be gone every weekend checking out schools, and now I’m just looking forward to seeing him out there again.
"He was always a quiet and stuck to himself, but never voiced any displeasures to me after that 2017 season. He was fully on board trying to win the spot even when Shea transferred in.
"He battled hard throughout spring ball and fall camp, and even when they named Shea the starter halfway through camp, Brandon was still just one play away. In the end, he knew what was best for him.
"I keep up with him and his statistics are looking pretty good. He’s thrown a lot of touchdown passes and I’m happy for him. We still play a lot of Mario Kart together and text back and forth, and snap all the time.”
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