Michigan LT Myles Hinton: 'All of our backs have that fire, have that juice'
Michigan Wolverines football fifth-year senior left tackle Myles Hinton is a mountain of a man at 6-foot-6, 342 pounds. But despite his height, he doesn’t have the best view of the Wolverines’ running backs, a stable led by graduate Kalel Mullings, senior Donovan Edwards and sophomore Benjamin Hall.
For one, the backs line up behind Hinton at the start of the play. And he’s a bit busy blocking when they’re making their runs. But Hinton surely feels how long a play goes, and Michigan has broken a lot of long runs — the Wolverines rank tied fifth nationally with 6 rushes of 30-plus yards. He also helps push the pile at times and can sense how hard the ball-carriers are running.
“I feel like all of our backs are that way,” Hinton said of the relentlessness Mullings showed on his 63-yard run that set up the game-winning score in a 27-24 victory over USC. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Kalel, Dono, Ben Hall, even [freshman] Jordan Marshall. I remember we were in fall camp, and we were doing one of our hitting periods. There was a huge surge, and at the bottom of the pile was Jordan Marshall. I was like, ‘Who is this kid? Who’s 23?’
“But I feel like all of our backs have that fire, have that juice. I don’t know — whoever’s carrying that rock, we have confidence they’re going to get it done.”
Asked if it feels like Michigan can always break a long run, Hinton added: “I feel like there’s always that chance. I feel like we chunk away and it’s like, chunk, chunk, chunk, BOOM. It’s like, let’s go. Let’s go. But also, if we get a 12-play drive with 5- and 6-yard runs, that’s also a great drive, in my opinion.”
Mullings long 63-yard dash that included two huge broken tackles was one that head coach Sherrone Moore called a “Michigan legend run.” Hinton, who was blocking on the left side of the formation, shared his perspective on it.
“Dude, that was insane,” Hinton said. “I remember blocking and looking like, is he gonna make it? He spun out of that last tackle and was just gone. I was like, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go!’ It was euphoric. It was an awesome feeling.”
He added that graduate left guard Josh Priebe had to calm him down after the run, pointing out that there was more work to do. Several plays later, Michigan ran Mullings to Hinton and Priebe’s side on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line. Touchdown.”
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Michigan averaged a season-high 3 yards before contact per carry against USC, showing that the offensive line is improving in the run blocking department as the season goes along.
“It’s five new guys,” Hinton reminded the world. “Before this year, we hadn’t played together at all. But we’re finding our groove and becoming a cohesive unit.”
Michigan passed for just 32 yards and ran for 290 in the victory over USC, but the Wolverines believe there’s more to unlock with the offense.
“We strive to be a dynamic offense, but whatever the game calls for, we’ll answer,” Hinton said. “If we’re gashing them, keep on gashin’ ‘em. If we’re lobbing it down field and having a bunch of yards down field, keep exploiting that. I feel like last game, we were just gashing them, so I think that was the philosophy of that.”
When given the choice between run blocking and pass protecting, though, Hinton — and most other offensive linemen — have a preference.
“Taking a guy from point A to point B against his will — I think that’s like the O-line quote,” Hinton said, choosing run blocking.
