Edward Warinner, Wolverine

This is just what Michigan fans like me wanted: one more opportunity to correct the spelling of “Warinner.”

Michigan State linebacker Edward Warinner has transferred to Michigan, where he is already enrolled in classes. He is the son of Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner, who has been with the program since the beginning of the 2018 season. It’s not clear right now whether he will be a scholarship player, which he was at MSU, or a walk-on. Michigan did not offer him a scholarship coming out of high school in 2018.

Hit the jump for more on Warinner’s situation.

Coming from Powell (OH) Olentangy Liberty, the younger Warinner was a 3-star, the #51 inside linebacker, and #1252 overall in the 2018 class, and his other Power Five offers came from Rutgers and West Virginia. He did not play in a game in 2018 and made 3 tackles on special teams in 2019.

Now for my evaluation of him, which I will keep pretty succinct:

While Warinner was listed at 6’2″ and 222 lbs. during the recruiting process, he was listed at 6’0″ and 225 lbs. as a second-year player at MSU. I remember glancing at his film as a recruit since his dad was being hired at Michigan and subsequently shrugged my shoulders about him going to the Spartans. Now that he’s coming to Michigan, the first name that popped into my mind on the re-watch is Jared Wangler. Warinner is not a quick-twitch guy, nor does he possess impressive size. You may remember that Wangler spent a few seasons languishing on the bench at linebacker before ultimately switching to offense and becoming a second-string fullback.

Warinner will presumably have to sit out the 2020 season due to NCAA transfer rules, and he will have two years of eligibility remaining for 2021 and 2022. When he becomes eligible in 2021, Michigan could potentially have entrenched players at both inside linebacker spots (where I expect Warinner to play), such as a redshirt junior Cam McGrone and fifth year senior Joshua Ross.

Here is a look at the 2020 scholarship count with Warinner listed as a non-scholarship player until I hear otherwise (LINK). It’s not often that one sees transfers from Michigan State to Michigan, or vice versa. The most recent example of “treason” I can think of is when linebacker Tyriq Thompson picked MSU in the class of 2015, despite being the son of former Michigan defensive back Clarence Thompson. Other examples of rival-jumping include Justin Boren’s transfer from Michigan to Ohio State, defensive lineman Chris Rock transferring from Michigan to OSU, and Kyle Kalis flipping his commitment from OSU to Michigan.

On a side note: Olentangy Liberty is a pretty talent-heavy school. When I went to a Glazier Clinic last year in Detroit, Liberty head coach Steve Hale was a great speaker and extremely generous and helpful. He mentioned Warinner (the elder) briefly in a positive manner, but I missed Warinner’s presentation, which was disappointing. So here’s a little shout out to Coach Hale for helping out his fellow coaches.

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