Warinner one to watch in 2018
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POWELL, Ohio - The Powell (Ohio) Olentangy Liberty program has plenty of talent these days, with a handful of Division I prospects on this year's team. In the 2018 class, linebacker Edward Warinner is one to watch. The 6-foot, 205-pound prospect saw a lot of varsity action last year as a freshman before suffering an injury.
The son of Ohio State offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Ed Warinner, the younger Warinner is penciled in as a starting outside linebacker for the Patriots this fall and talked about where his game is at right now.
"I think that I'm pretty good at seeing plays develop," said Warinner. "I get to the ball quickly and tackle well. Right now I pass drop better than I run fill, so that's what we're stressing during these two-a-days and this off-season is getting better at stopping the run."
Having an experienced college coach to go home to each night and ask questions has been big in Warinner's development. The two are able to share their love of football with each other on a nearly daily basis.
"He's the biggest influence in my life," he said. "A large part of our relationship is based on football. Everything he tells me, I take it to heart and I know it's good information. I just think with being raised around football that I love the game to death, it's by far my favorite thing in the world. Being around football my whole life has been great."
Warinner worked out at the Ohio State Friday Night Lights camp recently. While the event is, in part, meant to display the impressive facilities at Ohio State, it was just another day on campus for Warinner.
"It went well," he said. "I don't get as shell shocked as a lot of the other kids being in the stadium. For me it's kind of just my dad's office."
The recruiting process is just in the infant stages for Warinner. His multiple workouts at Ohio State also allowed him to showcase himself for the Mid-American Conference programs that were working some of the camps.
"I went to all of the one-day camps at Ohio State," he recalled. "I'm going to go out and go to more camps next summer to get some exposure after I put up some good sophomore film and mature even more. I've got some letters from about five or six different schools, Toledo has reached out the most so far. They are a great program in Ohio and I'm just going to build on that."
First things first, and that is putting together a strong sophomore season. Some early season rivalry games are already being circled on the calendar.
"The way our schedule is setup is pretty good," he explained. "We open up with our two district games (Orange and Olentangy). We certainly want to beat Orange, we have to beat them first but then we play Olentangy. We've lost five in a row to them. Losing six in a row would be something that we can't accept. Personally, I'd like to be top three on the team in tackles, put up some really good film, and be a positive leader on our defense and really effect the game."
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