After much improvement, another test awaits Jon Runyan

Jon Runyan Jr. was hesitant to 
watch his team’s season-opening loss 
at Notre Dame. The redshirt junior left 
tackle knew it would make him sick to 
his stomach. But last Friday, for the 
first time, he chose to anyway.
What Runyan saw was not always 
pretty. There were plays he, self-
admittedly, got caught in the heat of 
the moment. There were others where 
his technique evaded him.
“Just looking at it like, ‘Wow, that 
was probably actually a really bad play 
I had right there,’ ” Runyan said.
So why did Runyan relive the 
Wolverines’ lone loss during his only 
off-weekend of the fall? He wanted a 
reminder of how far he had come.
Runyan thinks his improvement 
started in Michigan’s win over 
Nebraska on Sept. 22. Then he felt 
another jump two weeks later against 
Wisconsin.
“Those two games, I thought I 
played really well,” Runyan said. “We 
were just having fun out there. Those 
games were really fun. Especially 
(Wisconsin) under the lights, on 
ESPN, 8:30. Those are the games you 
grow up watching and live for.”
After allowing three sacks against 

the Fighting Irish, the Wolverines 
have allowed just ten combined 
quarterback drops in the seven games 
since.
The offensive line’s collective 
growth 
was 
most 
apparent 
in 
Michigan’s victory over Michigan 
State. Against one of the country’s top-
ranked run defenses, Michigan ran for 
183 yards as its offensive line helped 
seal the victory down the stretch.
“Watching the Michigan State 
game as a unit with the offensive 
linemen, in the locker room, it was 
just unbelievable,” Runyan said. “I’ve 
never seen a locker room with that 
much atmosphere in there. Everybody 
in the Michigan State game had an 
overwhelming sense of pride in what 
we did.”
That’s quite the contrast from the 
sickness Runyan felt when replaying 
the Notre Dame game. During his 
press conference Tuesday, he repeated 
that his goal for the remainder of the 
season was to feel that way again.
A test to that, however, comes 
this weekend. Michigan coach Jim 
Harbaugh said that Penn State has 
the best defensive line the Wolverines 
have faced this season.
And on paper, even with the likes 
of Michigan State and Wisconsin 
in the rearview mirror, it’s easy to 

understand why Harbaugh feels that 
way.
The Nittany Lions rank fourth 
nationally with 28 sacks on the year. 
Yetur Gross-Matos — the reigning 
Big Ten Player of the Week — has two 
sacks in each of Penn State’s past two 
games. He and defensive end Shareef 
Miller have combined for 10 tackles 

and 21 tackles for loss this season.
“Really, 
the 
whole 
group 
is 
impressive,” Harbaugh said. “Like I 
said, I think it’s the best that we’ve 
played so far. Aggressive group that 
is very strong (on) inside pass-rush, as 
well as speed and power on the edge.”
That combination of speed and 
power is one that Runyan struggled 

against on Sept. 1. His improvement 
since then has been undeniable, but 
Gross-Matos and Miller will test just 
how far Runyan has come.
“We did a good job (against 
Michigan State),” Runyan said. “… 
Hopefully we carry that over to Penn 
State. Cause their team really likes to 
bring pressure, too.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Redshirt junior left tackle Jon Runyan Jr. was part of an offensive line that allowed Michigan to run for 183 yards against MSU.

MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Editor

FootballSaturday, November 2, 2018
8B

