Urban Meyer made changes to his offensive staff last month, bringing on Greg Studrawa to coach the offensive line in place of Ed Warinner, who will now coach tight ends at Ohio State. Former tight ends coach Tim Hinton is now in an administrative position.
Studrawa came home to Ohio after stints at LSU and most recently Maryland. He worked with Urban Meyer at Bowling Green in the early 2000s.
Studrawa met the Columbus media for the first time Wednesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Notes:
- Studrawa called his previous stint as a graduate assistant at Ohio State "probably the best opportunity I had. It was a great time of my life then. I enjoyed it."
- Studrawa said it is difficult to describe what he feels getting the chance to come back and coach in the state of Ohio.
- On Malcolm Pridgeon, Studrawa called him "a big, athletic kid." He added Pridgeon provides depth and competition, "two things that are critical in developing any offensive line."
- The first thing Studrawa did when getting to Ohio State was formulating relationships with the offensive linemen still in the program in place of Ed Warinner: "The good thing about that is Ed is not leaving. He's right there."
- While at LSU, Studrawa learned plenty about how everyone can contribute, player or coach. "I learned to listen."
- Studrawa shares a lot of similarities with Gavin Cupp and the two "hit if off" immediately upon his arrival. "I expect him to play a lot of football games here."
- On his coaching style, Studrawa said offensive line coaching is "a fraternity." He added he and Warinner teach the same things, just sometimes deliver it in different ways.
- Studrawa wants to keep things as close to the same as possible to ease the transition from Warinner to him.
- Having Warinner in the offensive meeting room with his offensive line background will make Studrawa's job much easier, he said.
- Studrawa couldn't come to Ohio State four years ago when Meyer was hired because he had just signed an extension at LSU, and he wanted to keep his family rooted until his kids finished high school. "At that time, it wasn't the best thing for my family."
- More on Malcolm Pridgeon: Spending the weekend with him made him and coaching staff realize he is a different person than most kids: "He's a tremendous young man. He really wants to be here."
- Studrawa said Pridgeon, who wants to study culinary arts at Ohio State, called him last night and said he made some chicken alfredo. "I said, 'Bring some next time.'"
- Studrawa said each player on the offensive line has "a fresh start, a clean slate" with him.
- Studrawa doesn't recognize much different between the Urban Meyer that hired him at Bowling Green to now. "He has an idea, a vision, a plan and he's stuck to it."
- "I have a love for the line. I wouldn't want to coach any other position," Studrawa said, which is one of the reasons he thinks Meyer brought him back to Ohio.
- Studrawa "has no doubt" about the talent at every single position on Ohio State's offensive line. He's studied it before while he was at Maryland.
- Ohio State's talent, speed and depth "is like an SEC school."
- Asked if Jamarco Jones or anyone else could move inside on the offensive line, Studrawa said he doesn't know: "I haven't seen them play. But our goal is to find the best fit for all of them to give us the best fit at all five positions."
- Studrawa praised Jack Wohlabaugh: "I've never seen a guy play with such passion, finish and effort — absolutely trying to gore people."
- The offensive line is like "a family" to Studrawa, with how the culture is set and how it spreads throughout the unit. He said he also considers himself a member of The Slobs: "The things that we do are not natural."
- Studrawa said the hardest part in changing jobs is leaving the players you recruit, then having to get to know the new ones that are coming into the program you are about to coach.
- One of the first things Studrawa did in Columbus was meet and go out to dinner with Pat Elflein. "Pat and I need to be on the same page as the leaders. I'm not in there as some dictator. We talk back and forth so we're always on the same page."
