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November 16, 2018 - Image 10

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The Michigan Daily

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TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
FootballSaturday, November 2, 2018
4B

JON RUNYAN JR. is staring down pressure -
just as always.
KATELYN MULCAHY/DAILY

DESIGN BY KATE GLAD

ETHAN WOLFE / DAILY SPORTS WRITER

EVAN AARON / DAILY

Jon Runyan Jr. was a household

name among the Michigan

offensive line. But along that

front, being talked about is

everything to avoid.

Runyan
was
the
obvious

scapegoat after the redshirt

junior’s first collegiate start

at left tackle Sept. 1 at Notre

Dame.
Michigan’s
offensive

line wholly struggled keeping

its flashy, new quarterback

upright.
His
shortcomings

headlined the Wolverines’ only

loss to date.

Runyan,
one
of
two
new

starters on offense, got the

preponderance of flack.

During
Jim
Harbaugh’s

Monday
press
conference

following the game, he fielded

four questions about offensive

line play. Harbaugh said his

line
looked
improved
and

expressed confidence in his

starting
five.
Elsewhere,

Runyan and the rest of his line

were pilloried. Messages from

angry fans flooded Runyan’s

social media profiles, and there

was plenty more said indirectly

about his play.

“It was difficult, there were

people coming after me from

all angles,” Runyan said. “For

two or three weeks after the

Notre Dame game, I put my

phone down and took (social

media) off my phone and tried

not to pay attention to it.”

He remembers the number of

fans who directly messaged him

online with harsh criticisms —

four people on Facebook, five

on Twitter, 10 on Instagram.

As much as Runyan attempted

to avoid that noise and move on,

he still knew his performance

wasn’t adequate.

“It was a little bit rough, and I

told him right after the game,”

said his father, Jon Runyan

Runyan can point to the exact moment

things changed for him this year.

It was on an outside zone play during

Michigan’s second drive on week four

against Nebraska. Runyan pinned his

matchup and knocked the Cornhusker

defensive end backwards and into the

ground
before
Karan
Higdon
even

approached the line of scrimmage. And

when Higdon did, Runyan and junior guard

Ben Bredeson had created such a massive

gap opening to nothing but turf — and the

endzone — in front of the senior running

back.

“Ever since then, I’ve really started feeling

good in the left tackle spot in the run and

pass game,” Runyan said. “I can really

narrow it down to that play.”

It was a welcome realization for Runyan,

beyond performing at a career-best level.

His first career start was in the Outback

Bowl loss last season. The three games

after falling short in a prove-yourself start

in South Bend stood to mend a broken

reputation.
Breaking
through
against

Nebraska displayed what being a collegiate

standout could be like.

Runyan pinpoints that game as when

the switch flipped. But the ghosts of the

season opener still find themselves cozy in

Runyan’s mind. Through four more weeks

without a hiccup in his play, including

benchmark wins against Wisconsin and

Michigan State, Runyan took time to look

directly into his mistakes.

He was off to the film room.

“And going back into it, I watched that

because it was during the bye week,”

Runyan said. “I just wanted to remind

myself where I started and where I’m going

to go, and how I don’t want to have that

feeling anymore that I had with the Notre

Dame game.”

With two weeks left in the regular season,

the feeling hasn’t seemed to return.

Through 10 weeks, Higdon is the first

Michigan running back to reach 1,000

yards since 2011. Junior quarterback Shea

Patterson has only been sacked once a game

on average, and boasts the second best

passer rating in the Big Ten.

First year offensive line coach Ed Warinner

has garnered much of the praise for the

resurgence of an oft-criticized front. The

simplification of schemes that Warinner

has introduced have been crucial according

to Runyan. Warinner just calls it focusing

on each of the lineman’s strengths.

“We ask him to do what he’s really good at

and do it really hard,” Warinner said. “And

so that’s made him a very confident player.

There’s nothing more defeating as a player

than to ask me to do something I know he

can’t do.”

Fans can surely look for a scapegoat, but

there isn’t one.

***

Jon Runyan Sr. was known for his

roughhouse attitude on the field.

His son being bullied by the Fighting Irish

could certainly besmirch the family name.

But Runyan Jr.’s skill sets vary from his

father’s; it’s consistently reinforced.

“As a parent, you understand the pressure,

how he’s going to compare,” Runyan Sr.

said. “But I feel he has his head on straight.

He blazes his own trail, and we’re all

different and we have different talents. I’ve

told him since he was in high school, he is a

better athlete than I was.”

Added Runyan Jr.: “My dad was known as

one of the nastiest people. I try to emulate

that watching little clips of him knocking

Michael Strahan down. I don’t know if I’m

there, but hopefully I’ll be able to get there.”

In his fourth season, walking back-and-

forth in front of images of his father

plastered in Schembechler Hall, the road

following his father’s legacy seems to be

winding down.

Contingent on College Football Playoff or

Big Ten championship success, Runyan

Jr. could be known just for anchoring the

left side of the line.

He isn’t his father, and that doesn’t

bother him. He’s been berated in high

school because of it, despite success. He

was put on a stake after Notre Dame, and

silenced critics for the next 11 weeks.

It doesn’t mean the pressure of being a

Runyan is gone. It just means Jon Runyan

Jr. is being himself.

“This name kinda carries a lot of weight,”

Runyan Jr. said. “I’m proud to have it,

and I don’t pay too much attention to

what everybody says about me. I received

a lot of criticism from people on the

outside after the Notre Dame game. But

my father was right there backing me

up. A bunch of my friends I went to high

school with, my teammates, they would

lift me up.

“We’ve been having a good season, and

those people talking trash about us at the

beginning (have) all come crawling back

like, ‘Oh, maybe this offensive line is

good. Maybe Juwann Bushell-Beatty, Jon

Runyan Jr. are good tackles.’ I just take it

all with a grain of salt.

“I don’t really care. I just stay level-

headed and don’t let it faze me at all.”

Daily
Sports
Editor
Mark
Calcagno

contributed to the reporting of this story.

Sr. “He played high because he wasn’t

used to it. (He needed) better footwork,

footwork with purpose so he didn’t have

to rely on his athletic ability to recover.”

Added the younger Runyan: “I felt sick

because, going back and watching it, it

was just kinda a bad grade — like you

don’t want to show your parents. But you

know that it’s there and they’re going

to find out. You try to hide from them

but you can’t because you know that it’s

there.”

For
most
student-athletes,
parental

advice is complementary to the day-to-

day grind. When your father is a former

All-American
lineman
at
Michigan,

NFL Pro Bowler and New Jersey state

representative, the advice is gospel.

So with Runyan Jr. finding himself on

the wrong end of football commentary,

change was needed — an especially tall

order for a veteran.

But it wasn’t an unusual task.

***

Behind the fame of his father, he’s been

doing it his whole football life.

He starred as an offensive lineman

at
St.
Joseph’s
Preparatory
High

School in Philadelphia, catalyzing an

offensive line and team that celebrated

two Pennsylvania Interstate Athletic

Association state championships.

It was a drop in the bucket for Runyan.

“Jon, despite coming from a dad with

such success, was a shy kid,” said his high

school coach, Gabe Infante. “I think it

was really big shoes to fit into. I think

everyone expects a young man like that

to be his father from the moment he steps

on a football field. But Jon was like any

other 14- or 15-year old kid: basically a

boy trapped in a man’s body.”

No
accolades
would
help
Runyan

escape the shadow cast by his father.

Not coaches’ visits, state titles or even

the popularity of being attached with

football notoriety.

The weight of the last name on the back

of his jersey was an insult flung in the

middle of games, a foot-in-the-door for

an opponent’s animus.

“People like to talk about me as a

sophomore, junior in high school how

I’d never live up to my dad,” Runyan

said, reflecting on a Catholic League

championship game. “Stuff like that just

in the game. It didn’t confuse me, but it

kinda angered me. Coach Infante was

always there telling me that I’m not my

dad, I’m my own person. It’s not fair to

judge someone like me going off what my

dad has done.

“Judge me off what I’m doing, not what

— like I’m my own measuring stick.

You don’t have to measure me up to my

dad because he’s a completely different

person and player than me.”

To
call
it
a
burden
would
be
a

mischaracterization. He plays in the

footsteps of his very father after all.

Winning can solve problems, too.

It seems like an obvious observation: the

son of Jon Runyan Sr. is not Jon Runyan

Sr., and that’s not a bad thing. The sooner

that Runyan Jr. reconciled that, the more

he stood out on his own.

***

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