Michigan Football: Scouting Hawaii’s offensive line

This series will be a more in-depth look at the offensive line and play-calling that we can expect to see from Michigan football’s weekly opponent. This week, we take a look at the offensive line for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, a veteran unit with tons of experience, to see how they match up with Michigan’s defensive front. 

All offseason we heard non-stop concerns about the Wolverines’ defensive line. “How are they going to replace Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo?” We are only one game into the 2022 campaign, but week one demonstrated a resounding answer to that question, a very balanced and attacking approach that led to eight different players tallying sacks. The CSU Rams were not exactly an elite opponent by any means, but the early showing was quite encouraging, suggesting that Michigan football will likely lean less on one or two individual stars, but rather get a lot of edge rushers and linemen into the mix causing pressure.

This week, the group faces off with the Rainbow Warriors out of Hawaii, who will be playing their third game. Led by first-year head coach Timmy Chang, it has been a rough start for Hawaii, a 63-10 at home against Vanderbilt followed by a 49-17 loss to Western Kentucky. In fact, Hawaii has even been dubbed as one of the ten worst teams in the country by ESPN senior writer Ryan McGee, along with Michigan’s opponent next week, UCONN (ranked 7th worst in the nation). This week will likely fair similarly, with the Wolverines running up a big lead and getting plenty of guys involved.

But, back to the question at hand, let’s take a dive into what exactly Michigan has to worry about (or not worry about) when it comes to their defensive front against Hawaii’s offensive line.

Left Tackle: #75 Ilm Manning (R. Sr., 6’4, 295 lbs.)

The most tenured player on this Rainbow Warriors offensive line, Manning has started nearly every game for Hawaii since he arrived on campus as a freshman back in 2018. With 47 starts in total, and with the extra year of eligibility (COVID), he is back again for new OL coach Roman Sapolu, previously at Fresno State. Manning was a 2021 All-Conference honorable mention player last season in the Mountain West.

Looking at the film, Manning is definitely the best of this bunch, showing a smooth, quick kick slide as a blindside protector. He uses his hands nicely to stymie rushers, is able to punch independently, and re-establish leverage when needed. He did, however, give up a sack against Vanderbilt, and also had a false start penalty against Western Kentucky.

Against the run, Manning is solid when asked to seal out edge rushers, and has solid enough footwork to reach outside defenders. But Manning, like much of the Hawaii offensive line, lacks the strength to consistently drive defenders off the line of scrimmage and create gaps and seams for the running backs to hit. A solid player for sure, at least by Mountain West standards.

Left Guard: #66 Sergio Muasau (R. So., 6’0, 315 lbs.)

Muasau will be stepping into this role after starting LG Stephan Bernal-Wendt was injured last week against Western Kentucky. He played a bit in 2020, appearing in eight games according to the Hawaii website, and then entered the game against the Hilltoppers in the second quarter.

There’s definitely the least amount of film available on Muasau, but he’s a fairly quick player who simply lacks the size and strength to get much push in the run game. He also struggled in pass protection against WKU, with a handful of pressures coming from his assignment. He struggles to fire his hands accurately and with force, making them easy to defeat, and thus an easy turn to rush the QB.

Center: #61 Eliki Tanuvasa (R. Jr., 6’2, 300 lbs.)

On film, Tanuvasa is technically proficient but lacks the athletic ability or mass to really take advantage of it. Against Western Kentucky, he showed a quick off-hand punch, getting into the chest of defensive tackles quickly, but would just as quickly find himself starting to be driven into the backfield, unable to sit and anchor and stop the oncoming bull rush. Facing off against a freaky strong player like Mazi Smith will certainly be a challenge for the undersized center.

And against the run, things did not go much better for Tanuvasa, as he was consistently unable to generate movement against Western Kentucky’s interior rotation, consisting of the 6’1, 305 lbs. senior Darius Shipp, and the 6’5, 330 lbs. redshirt senior Brodric Martin. Michigan football will be lining up some physically similar players themselves, with Mazi Smith tipping the scales at 337 lbs., and Mason Graham at 317 lbs.

Right Guard: #71 Micah Vanterpool (R. Sr., 6’6, 315 lbs.)

Like Manning, Vanterpool was also an honorable mention selection to the All-MWC team last fall, after starting 11 games and surrendering just two sacks on the season. Vanterpool is certainly the steadiest and most well-rounded player of this bunch. While Manning is a good pass protector but a weak run blocker, Vanterpool does both at a fairly good level, even grading out as the top run blocker on this unit according to Pro Football Focus.

Despite a very long frame at 6’6, Vanterpool showcases good bend and leverage as a run blocker and when anchoring against the bull rush inside. He struggled a bit with exploding off the snap, oftentimes being the last of the five linemen to engage with the man across from them, but once he does, he’s able to generate sufficient movement to help Hawaii maintain some semblance of balance in their offense.

Right Tackle: #77 Austin Hopp (R. Sr., 6’6, 310 lbs.)

A native of Minnetonka, Minnesota, Hopp originally committed to Western Illinois coming out of high school. He played four seasons for the Leathernecks and was named a Phil Steele FCS Freshman All-American in 2018. He transferred to Hawaii prior to last season and played the entire year for the Rainbow Warriors.

Hopp was arguably the weakest link on the Rainbow Warriors’ offensive line in protection, but probably was my favorite of the bunch as a run blocker. He has very long arms but struggles to use them to separate in pass protection, instead leaning way out over his feet and exposing his chest and negating the leverage of his arms. His footwork can get a bit sloppy at times as well. Against Vanderbilt, a poorly aimed punch exposed his chest quite badly, leading to a strong arm move from the Commodores DE and a quick transition into a sack.

Hopp’s strengths come, however, in the run game. He has adequate size and strength to displace people when he makes strong contact. However, he does whiff on blocks from time to time. When he does get into defenders, he has a solid knee bend, drives his legs through the block, and also closes ground to the second level quickly and efficiently. He had a very nice rep in the WKU game, after Vanterpool passed a 3-technique slanting towards him, Hopp managed to reassert leverage and dig out the tackle enough to clear out a hole for the running back to get seven yards out of.

Hawaii Offensive Scheme

Timmy Chang runs a fairly similar type of offense as Jay Norvell, with a high emphasis on throwing the ball quickly to receivers on shorter route combinations. Chang’s offense, however, fits better under the “Run and shoot” moniker than it does under the Air Raid. The key difference there is the Run and Shoot’s emphasis on pre-snap motion to get receivers open and in advantageous match-ups, and on average features fewer empty sets than the Air Raid.

It is also a bit more balanced, and honestly, the Rainbow Warriors will likely have a pretty solid run game when they enter into the conference portion of their schedule. RB Dedrick Parson showed some very good running ability in their matchup with Vanderbilt, and the experience of this group will certainly pay dividends down the road.

However, against Michigan football, this likely will not be pretty. Hawaii’s offense was not able to consistently move the ball in either matchup and their OL, while experienced is very poorly built to go up against Michigan’s defensive front. The Hawaii OL simply lacks size and strength, which is something Michigan has in spades. For example, just look at these comparisons:

• Mike Morris: 6’6, 292 lbs. vs. Ilm Manning: 6’4, 295 lbs.
• Mason Graham: 6’3, 315 lbs. vs. Sergio Muasau: 6’0, 315 lbs.
• Mazi Smith: 6’3, 337 lbs. vs. Eliki Tanuvasa: 6’2, 300 lbs.
• Kris Jenkins: 6’3, 285 lbs. vs. Micah Vanterpool: 6’6, 315 lbs.
• Taylor Upshaw: 6’4, 255 lbs. vs. Austin Hopp: 6’6, 310 lbs.

Those are not good size matchups for the Hawaii OL. Traditionally, the OL is often bigger everywhere except at nose tackle. For Hawaii, they are only bigger at two spots outright, and that’s not even taking into account the speed off the edge that guys like Jaylen Harrell can bring.

Hawaii’s OL will do well in the Mountain West, but against Michigan, this one could get ugly in the trenches, and that’s just how Jim Harbaugh and Mike Elston want it to be.