What All-American Victor Oluwatimi will bring to Michigan Football

Scouting Victor Oluwatimi

Size & Strength

One area that does stick out is that Oluwatimi looks fairly small on-field. He’s not an overly imposing body type, with his official measurements from Virginia’s website coming in at 6’3, 310 lbs. His lower body, in particular, looks a little on the leaner side of most starting offensive linemen.

While Oluwatimi does not look very big, he is functionally quite strong and is consistently able to generate movement and displace bigger defensive linemen off the line of scrimmage.

Double teams are usually the easiest blocks to generate movement on, but Oluwatimi’s physical play shows up in every block he makes, tallying multiple pancake blocks in each game watched.

Athleticism

One of the reasons that centers tend to be a bit smaller than other players on the offensive line is that they are often asked to make blocks that require a high level of athleticism, something Oluwatimi shows a lot of.

Whether it is working off of a double team up to the linebacker at the second-level, or reaching a play-side defensive tackle, Oluwatimi is athletic enough to make every block asked of him. His film against Illinois was particularly impressive in this regard. He consistently made contact and sealed off linebackers at the second level, giving the Cavaliers’ backs a chance to turn each run into a bigger play.

Technique

If his size is the first concerning thing one notices about Oluwatimi, his footwork and technique are certainly the first encouraging thing one would notice about him. He maintains an excellent base, keeps his feet churning, and employs good leverage with his lower body. His zone footwork is very solid in particular, never getting out over his toes, instead staying tight and balanced when working either to a play side defender or zoning off the A-gap up to the linebacker.

Oluwatimi possesses excellent fundamentals and technique in the run game as a whole. This is a big reason that Pro Football Focus ($) has him graded out as the second-best run-blocking center in the country in 2021. For a run-first offense like Michigan’s, that is very important to maintaining its physical style of play.

In pass protection, Oluwatimi’s technique is still quite solid, but not as exemplary as in the run game. In the rare instances, he does get beat in protection, it is because will have a bad habit of lunging forward when going to punch.

Some of this is likely compensating for his smaller stature against powerful bull-rushing defensive tackles. However, Oluwatimi does show excellent placement with his hands, keeps his elbows tight in his bunch, and has a very high motor, always looking to find someone to block.

Football IQ

This is one area where Oluwatimi certainly excels and can be a major help for the Wolverines. The center is often tasked with identifying defensive fronts, potential stunts/blitzes, and identifying targets.

Oluwatimi consistently shows a mastery of the mental responsibilities of the position, as the offensive line is almost always in the right position to pick up those stunts and blitzes.

Oluwatimi has great awareness, often able to redirect and get a block on blitzing linebackers and stunting defensive linemen. His three years of starting experience will certainly be an asset for Michigan’s line heading into 2022.