Greg Studrawa is the newest face on Urban Meyer's Ohio State coaching staff, but the man he replaced as offensive line coach isn't gone. All Ed Warinner did was move down the hall.
"It's a little different, but Coach Warinner is still around and my guys are still in the room," senior center and team captain Pat Elflein said Thursday after practice. "Coach Warinner will pop in every now and then. It's good. I like the transition. He's a good guy."
An Ohio native, Studrawa came to Columbus after two seasons at fellow Big Ten East institution Maryland. The seven years prior, his role varied from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator for Les Miles at LSU. Before that, Studrawa spent six years at Bowling Green, including the two years Meyer spent there in his first head coaching gig.
Meyer brought him Studrawa home in January, shifting Warinner to tight ends coach and Tim Hinton to an administrative position. Old friends were back together once again.
When spring practice broke March 8 at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, nearly two months of introductions and meetings between Studrawa and the offensive line talent Warinner helped bring to Columbus became secondary.
It was time for Studrawa to see what Elflein, Billy Price and the other younger players could do between the lines and not just on film.
"So far it’s gone really well," Studrawa said Thursday. "I’ve had a lot of time now to spend time with them on and off the field."
“I’m an Ohio guy, from here, and to have the opportunity to coach at what I consider the greatest place, there’s no words I have. When I come out here every day I’m thankful to have the opportunity to coach on this staff with him again.”– Greg Studrawa on Urban Meyer
Spring practice is essentially half over at Ohio State, with the annual spring game sitting 15 days away. The adjustment period between the offensive line and its new coach is in full swing.
"We really have been kind of keeping the same kind of concepts around some of the things, it's just a new guy who is directing us," Price said. "The relationship with Coach Stud, that's something you have to build. It's a personal thing, you have to build it and make sure he trusts you first and foremost. We've got all the confidence in the world making sure what the coaches are telling us and go out on the field and go forth with that."
Price added that he thought Warinner was more intense than Studrawa due to his military background — Warinner spent 16 seasons at Army and the Air Force Academy. Studrawa is a little more laid back, but not afraid to yell if a situation requires it.
"Coach Warinner is an up-in-your-grill guy, demands excellence," Elflein said. "Coach Stud is the same. He screams at you, demands excellence. They hold our culture to a really high standard and they enforce it and rely on us as leaders, both of them do, to enforce that culture."
Studrawa isn't afraid to lean on Elflein and Price in the early stages of his Ohio State tenure. They are the lone returning starters on the offensive line, though Elflein is moving from guard to center.
Studrawa turned to the elder statesmen upon his arrival two and a half months ago. He spent the most time with them in the film room and at the dinner table, laying the groundwork for their relationships. That spilled over to the rest of the players on the line, as Studrawa continues his transition into their new coach.
"We do things as a group because there’s a trust level you have to have between player and coach," Studrawa said. "Right now, we’re still building that because they’re still getting to know me. The more time we spend together, the more comfortable we’re getting. The more comfortable they are around me, they’re coming in more and we’re spending more time together because they’re more comfortable.
"That’s how you build a unit of individuals who turn into a heck of a group that’s tight. We’re doing that now and it’s really going well."
Warinner's move allows him to focus more on the offense as a whole as Meyer's offensive coordinator, but its not like he left the cupboard bare on the offensive line. The talent is there, it is just young and inexperienced. However, that allows for Studrawa to start anew with them even more.
"It's kind of like a clean slate for those guys," Elflein said. "Coach Stud hasn't really seen them play except for a little film that he's watched previously, but he's got a clean slate going in and watching these guys do what they do."
That is another rung on the ladder of Studrawa's adjustment to all things Ohio State and molding the offensive line into the standard Warinner built before him — and what Meyer expects.
"When I walk out here, ‘Wow’ was my first reaction," Studrawa said of his new/old boss in Meyer. "I’m an Ohio guy, from here, and to have the opportunity to coach at what I consider the greatest place, there’s no words I have. When I come out here every day I’m thankful to have the opportunity to coach on this staff with him again."
