Above the Line by Urban Meyer

Author:Urban Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

A great example of the impact of the power of the unit is our offensive line, under the direction of coach Ed Warinner. Ed was hired in early 2012 and had a big job ahead of him. The linemen needed a lot of work in order to adjust to our new offensive system, but I knew if anyone could be a difference maker, it would be Ed. He is an exceptional coach. He connects with his players. He is disciplined and demanding and is great at earning their trust. He teaches them and he pushes them very hard. In 2014, under his leadership, the offensive line got progressively better every week. We are an offensive line–based offense. It has been a point of emphasis for me ever since I became a head coach. In order for our offense to perform well, our offensive line must perform at the highest level. There can be no weak links. There can be no weak trust among them.

Reid Fragel was a six-foot eight-inch tight end who was underachieving in the classroom and underperforming on the field. We needed a right tackle, and Ed and I agreed that if Reid could put on enough weight by the season, he might have a shot at starting. But first, we had to address the issue of whether we could trust him. We called Reid and his parents in to explain the situation and what moves we were looking to make. It was a hard, unpleasant conversation about Reid’s poor academic status. The Fragels are wonderful people, but he had misled them about his grades. Tears were shed, but the truth healed those wounds quickly, and Ed went to work building a right tackle. Directed by Coach Mick, Reid gained the fifty pounds he needed while at the same time learning his new job under the tutelage of Coach Warinner.

One of the first things Coach Warinner did after his initial evaluation of his new players was assign them a position so they could own that role. For example, Corey Linsley had long been a guard until Warinner moved him to center and kept him there. “Once we decided what position they were going to play,” Warinner said, “we kept them there so there would be no confusion about roles and responsibilities. Once we got them proficient enough to own their position, they could begin to master it.”

Reid had never played offensive line. And with the first game of the season approaching quickly, Coach Warinner first had to understand how best to teach him. Reid, along with a few other linemen, tended to learn better with walk-throughs on the field rather than on the board in their unit room. So Ed made it a priority to be on the practice field fifteen minutes before the rest of the team so they could work on footwork and all the technical nuances that would maximize their ability to master the concepts.

But where Warinner’s brilliance truly shone through was in his ability to build a sustainable brotherhood among his guys.

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