Although Runyan takes his cues from position coach Adam Stenavich, his dad has chimed in with a few helpful tips here and there.
As the NFL vice president of the policy and rules administration, the elder Runyan typically has his hands full with league matters during the season. He still finds time, though, to watch his Jon Jr.'s film and send encouraging text messages before and after his son's games.
While Runyan is proving there's more to his game than his last name, there was one eye-opening moment last month when Runyan crossed paths with quarterback Tom Brady after the Packers played in Tampa Bay. Brady, now in his 21st NFL season, actually was teammates with Jon Sr. at Michigan.
Runyan had met Brady a few times, including once when the future Hall of Famer was on hand to watch Michigan play Colorado in 2016, so he figured he'd say hello.
"I didn't think that he'd recognize my face but after I introduced who I was, he was pretty excited to see me," Runyan said. "He told me to tell my father hello, give him his regards and hope my family's doing all right. It was a pretty cool moment that I didn't expect for it to blow up. I just wanted to say hi to Tom because he's my dad's friend."
On the field, Runyan has made a seamless transition from being an All-Big Ten left tackle to playing in the interior despite not having a physical offseason program, and then a truncated training camp.
Runyan credits his fellow linemen for making it easy on him, but Stenavich also cites his preparation and work ethic as reasons his rookie lineman has been able to quickly get up to speed. The reputation gives the Packers the utmost confidence in Runyan regardless of the circumstances or game situation.
"I think you find out a lot about guys when you get in the heat of a battle," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "Do they give the deer-in-headlights look or do they just not flinch and not blink and just go about their business? That's what he's been able to do.
"Certainly he's been around the game for a really long time with his dad, but he's just able to transfer what he does in practice onto the game field."
December 04, 2020 at 05:58AM
https://www.packers.com/news/matchup-with-eagles-a-little-extra-special-for-packers-jon-runyan
Matchup with Eagles a 'little extra special' for Packers' Jon Runyan - Packers.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment