Ed Warriner was ready for something different.
He came to the right place.
After spending 16 seasons with run-oriented service-academy teams, Kansas University’s first-year offensive line coach is adjusting to a more balanced offensive scheme during spring football drills.
“I’m excited about that,” said Warriner, who spent the previous three years at Air Force. “It’s going to be fun to branch out and expand a little offensively. … It was an opportunity to expand my knowledge base and experience. That was an important factor.”
KU head coach Mark Mangino — whose team wraps up spring drills at 1 p.m. today at Memorial Stadium — knew he needed to improve his offensive line after the Jayhawks ranked ninth in the Big 12 Conference in rushing offense last season.
Warriner knows a few things about running the ball. He was the offensive line coach last year at Air Force when the Falcons led the nation in rushing. They ranked third in the country in 2000 and 2001 and led the Mountain West Conference all three seasons.
Warriner had similar results at Army. The Black Knights led the nation in rushing three times during his 13 years there.
While Kansas is a member of a league known for high-powered ground attacks, no Big 12 team runs the ball with the frequency of the service academies.
In 2002, Air Force ran 84.4 percent of the time with 733 running plays and 135 passing plays. By comparison, Kansas ran 52.3 percent of the time last year. The Big 12 school that ran most frequently was Nebraska, which ran 75.4 percent of the time.
Warriner said adjusting would be easy.
“There’s a few more pass protections than we had at Air Force and a few more running plays than we have here,” he said. “You just trade off 25 percent more pass protections for running plays. It’s just a change in percentage of what you have to work on and what you have to know.”
Warriner said he wasn’t tired of the option.
“That’s an exciting offense at Air Force that they run,” he said. “It’s what works there. It’s the best thing for them. You never get bored running an offense that works and you can win with.”
Warriner replaced Ken Conatser, who resigned three games into last season after conflicting with Mangino. Tight ends coach Brandon Blaney filled in with the linemen for the rest of the year. He will coach tight ends this year and help Warriner with the line.
“He’s going to be a crossover guy that does a little bit of both,” Warriner said. “We’ll work as a team. He has more knowledge of the players because he was around the team last year. He can give me a lot of insight about their abilities, potential and so forth. That’s a real plus early on until I get to know them.”
| When: 1 p.m. today.Where: Memorial Stadium. |
Warriner said the tag-team approach will speed the learning process on a line that lost four senior starters.
“There’s times when you want to take your offensive line with five people, you want to break it down and work with, say, your centers and guards,” he said. “Well, then your tackles and tight ends can work together and Brandon can do that. Whatever way you want to break it down, we can be a little more individualized in our coaching. He’ll work with both areas. We’ll work as a team.”
KU’s final practice today is open to the public, and there is no charge for admission. The Jayhawks won’t have a full scrimmage because of injuries but are expected to have a short scrimmage — 40 to 50 plays — at the end of the practice.
