If anyone can attest to the coaching ability of Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, it’s Ed Warinner. Michigan’s offensive line coach raved about the head coach in advance of Saturday’s much anticipated B1G opener at Minnesota.

Warinner spent the 2017 season under Fleck at Minnesota. While the Golden Gophers finished 5-7, Warinner was effusive in his praise of Fleck and the foundation he established in his first season at the helm. Last season, Minnesota captured a program-best 11 victories.

Via MLive.com:

“I enjoyed being in his program,” said Warriner, who also has had notable coaching stops at Ohio State and Notre Dame during his 36-year career. “He’s very organized. He’s very good at communicating what his objectives are to the team and how he wants to run his program. And he has a real clear vision of how he wants to do that. And obviously, how he wanted to build his program, it came to fruition year three there last year with a great year and a great finish to the season. Everything about it, for me, was positive. And now we’re on the other side.

Michigan leads the all-time series 75-25-3. Michigan has won eight of the last nine times, as well as 16 games in a row at Minnesota. However, because of his admiration for Fleck, Warinner is well aware of the challenge Michigan will face in Week 1 of the conference slate.

The contest is so highly regarded that the pageantry of ESPN College GameDay will be the backdrop on Saturday morning.

With the nation’s attention firmly on the Wolverines, Warinner anticipates an epic duel.

“It’s a tight game going in, and somebody will separate themselves as this thing plays out,” Warinner said to MLive.com. “But we are taking them very seriously.”