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Sunday, August 7, 2022

2022 Season Countdown: #35 Greg Crippen

 

Greg Crippen (image via USA Today)

Name: Greg Crippen
Height: 
6’4″
Weight: 
301 lbs.
High school: 
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
Position: 
Center
Class: 
Sophomore
Jersey number: 
#51
Last year: 
I ranked Crippen #81 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in six games.
TTB Rating:
 65

Crippen was a big surprise to me last year and may already be approaching his TTB Rating as a sophomore. Andrew Vastardis started at center all year, but Crippen was his backup. While Michigan could have played Reece Atteberry, Raheem Anderson II, or guard Zak Zinter - all of whom have snapped the ball at times - Crippen was the guy.

Despite the presence of Crippen, Michigan still went out and tried to find a starting center, and they did in Olu Oluwatimi. Oluwatimi was a Rimington Award finalist, so maybe it was a no-brainer to take him, but if they truly felt Crippen was ready to roll in 2022 as the starter, they probably wouldn't have dipped into the transfer portal. Crippen also appears to be a center only, and I think it's a good idea to train a young player at just one position, especially one as critical as center. So I'll rank him here at #35, since he doesn't appear to be ready to back up other positions but Michigan has other guys who could step in and play center in a pinch.

Prediction: Backup center

15 comments:

  1. What happened with Nolan Rumler anyway? There seemed to be a lot of excitement about him when he came in. My brother watched his video, and thought he held too much. Maybe that's why he was good in high school. But he seemed like he had the disposition of a center. He was named All-America twice, All Ohio 3 times. I guess if you have credentials like that, and then can't make it with Ed Warinner, something is up.

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    1. Well, he didn't get much of a chance with Warinner (Sherrone Moore took over for 2021). Warinner was only at M for Rumler's redshirt and redshirt freshman seasons. I think probably Rumler's lack of athleticism caught up to him a little bit. He transferred to Kent State.

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    2. Take all recruiting rankings with a grain of salt but ESPECIALLY for OL.

      They are meaningful in aggregate. At the individual level? Yeah it means something if you're a 5 star - especially if you are interested in NFL potential - and the probabilities of success are higher for 4 stars than 3 stars, but it's a high variance game subject to a lot of interpretation and speculation. That's what makes it fun.

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    3. Jon Runyan Jr was on the bench when Ed Warinner got to Michigan. And there were complaints he was going no where. In the 2 years Warinner coached him he was 1st Team All BIG10. It just seems like 2 years is plenty of time for Ed Warinner to develop someone.

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    4. @JDD

      It would seem Warriner is not as great as you think. He's a proven OL coach but he got fired at OSU and he got fired at Michigan and he is now at FAU. Why is that? His replacement immediately got a HUGE improvement in performance. I don't know how this can be glossed over. Maybe Moore's success is all a mirage - maybe it was health plus Warriner's development kicking in at an opportune time and Moore is just lucky to be there - but the more likely explanation is that Warriner is just not that good. Moore got the entire OL all conference honors and turned a nomadic unexceptional senior into an all American. These are all the same guys Warriner struggled with.

      Warriner might be the OL version of Doug Nussmeir. Warriner's career seems to have peaked 7 years ago and has been going downhill since. I thought he was good too - but right now it looks like Moore is a huge upgrade.

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    5. How many of his O Linemen have to be taken in the draft for you to think he's good?

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    6. I guess more. Are you giving him credit for Runyan (didn't recruit but did develop) or Steuber (recruited but failed to develop)? Or are both "his" lol?

      Warriner spent 3 seasons at Michigan (2018-2020) but only had 2 recruiting classes.

      2018 season produced 0 NFL draft picks and the recruits (Mayfield and Hayes) where Greg Frey guys in every way.

      2019 season produced 4 NFL draft picks - none recruited by Warriner. All of them started before Warriner arrived. Ruiz and Bredeson were top 50 recruits who started as true freshman. Onwenu was a top 100 recruited who started as a sophomore. Runyan was the one who made a senior year leap under Warriner, but even he technically started before he got here and his Dad was his Dad. Those are Drevno recruits and they were good players that Warriner was handed without needing to do much. Crediting him for the non-Runyan trio is a STRETCH.

      What about recruits? Warriner's recruits that year were a mixed bag - about 50/50 success rate with probable hits (Jones, Barnhart, Keegan) and definite busts (Stewart, Carpenter, Rumler).

      2020 produced 1 draft pick who Warriner did not recruit (Mayfield) that played in 2 games. Hayes - who again Warriner did not recruit - stepped in for Mayfield but wasn't very good until after Warriner left and Moore took over.

      You look at 2020 recruits and Zinter was a homerun - we'll see about Persi and Atteberry.

      So if you're looking at accomplishments for Warriner I would rank them something like this:

      1. Turned Mayfield into starting LT as a RS freshman
      2. Turned Runyan into a draftable NFL player
      3. Recruited Zak Zinter
      4. Didn't mess up the gift trio of Ruiz, Bredeson, Onwenu
      5. Solid but unexceptional recruiting success in 2 classes

      On the negative side:
      1. Swift and substantial improvement the minute he was fired
      2. Awful performance by OL in 2020 despite plenty of talent
      3. Generally disliked across the program and only got 1 season out of Mayfield.
      4. Prominent role on a coaching staff whose offenses were generally seen as underwhelming, especially given exceptional talent in 2019.
      5. Where is he now?

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    7. I didn't even read your comment. It was way to long .
      5 O Linemen were drafted in the 3 years he coached here .Seach to see if there are other coaches at Michigan who did that.

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    8. Come on man, I don't think even glass is half empty describes your negativity about Ed Warinner. Your view about Ed Warinner probably says more about you than about him.

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    9. I think it's very fair. Why was he fired? Why is he at FAU? Why was the 21 OL better than any of his OLs?

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  2. Crippen took lots if not all the snaps at left guard in the spring game. Anderson took all or most of the right guard snaps. Both flanking Oluwatimi. But it was Zintner getting most if not all the work for the blue team. It would be simultaneously distressing and interesting to see who would slide in, in the event that Oluwatimi caught an injury. I really don’t ever want to know for sure.

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    1. Yeah that's odd but I think there's a couple factors. Spring is a time for experimentation and not all moves will stick. Especially with a deep and proven OL room. It's probably a good thing for their development to have Zinter play some center and Crippen to play some guard. I still think if Oluwatimi misses time it'll be the other way around, but it's nice to have options. The biggest benefit maybe getting Crippen more opportunities as a backup.

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  3. The context Thunder laid out is fascinating. Crippen displaced a handful of other solid options - all now guards - right away and burned his red-shirt even though the starter was healthy all year. That's the future-star track for the IMG-ready youngster, almost Ruiz-like... and then Oluwatimi happened.

    So now what? My suspicion is that Oluwatimi was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. I'd guess some conversations were had with Crippen, coaches, and possibly family members as well. I see it as less of a worry about Crippen and more a credit to Oluwatimi.

    Bottomline is I think Crippen's going to see significant snaps. As the starter-in-waiting, it makes sense from all sides. My guess is that some of those will come at guard as well as center, but even if he's a center only there should be snaps. Oluwatimi doesn't have a lot to prove against the September cupcakes - he's here for OSU, PSU, MSU, etc. So there should be snaps there. And if he plays some guard that should be helpful for his development as a center as well - knowing what's coming from their perspective will make him a better OC.

    The chess move would be to hold Crippen out of some games and get that red-shirt year back, but I doubt that happens.



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    1. Getting into the "you gotta move someone down if you move him up" phase of the countdown but I think Crippen (if he's the 7th OL) is low on this list. The 7th OL will see at least a chunk of meaningful snaps (I'm talking W-L record deciding snaps) more years than not. That goes especially for Crippen who was an almost-starter to-be.

      I think I understand the logic but I don't agree with it. I can't see the top interior linemen (Crippen and Atteberry) being so low.

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    2. I'm happy about the transfer. It shows that, yeah crippen is good & our future, but we can win 1 or 2 now

      Give the young man snaps. Keep him happy, and get him ready to lead the OL with some experience under his cap

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