Jim Harbaugh weighs in on key Michigan football position battle

With the season fast approaching, there are a number of key battles that the Wolverines are using to determine who will start and who will sit. A top Michigan football position battle on offense is at the right and left tackle positions, where the Wolverines are two-deep across the board. On Tuesday, head coach Jim Harbaugh chimed in on where things stand, even confidently stating that the Wolverines will likely still not have concrete starters at a few offensive line spots by Week 1.

Jim Harbaugh updates key Michigan football position battle along the offensive line

Who is winning the Michigan football position battle at left tackle? At right tackle? Anywhere else on the offensive line? It’s hard to tell right now; in fact, according to Jim Harbaugh, the job belongs to no one just yet.

“The first half of camp, Karsen (Barnhart), LaDarius (Henderson) have been at the left tackle,” Jim Harbaugh said of the Michigan football position battle at left tackle. “And Myles Hinton and Trente (Jones) — we’ve given them the same amount of starter reps as backup reps. We’re interchanging guys. You know Karsen’s ability, his versatility, he can play any position — he could play left, he could play right, he could play guard… so developing that same versatility with the other guys as well is a priority.

“And we’ll flip it again, day off today, come back tomorrow and those tackles, Trente and Karsen will go back to starting tackles as they did the first week and then the second segment takes the backups. They’re playing at a super, super high starter level. I predict that it’ll go into the first and second game to find out exactly who the starters will be.”

The “Michigan Method” is coming into play for the offensive line at right and left tackle

Jim Harbaugh explained earlier today that the “Michigan Method” is essentially what the Wolverines did to determine a starting quarterback in 2022. From Week 1 to Week 2, the Maize and Blue will likely be rolling out completely different starters at right and left tackle, further emphasizing how close this Michigan football position battle truly is right now.

“… I definitely think you’re gonna see the ‘Michigan Method’ in play at offensive tackle,” Jim Harbaugh continued. “There are two starters on the left, there’s two starters on the right. There’s four starting tackles that we have. It’ll go through camp — I envision starting two tackles one game and two tackles the second game. I see that happening at edge, could be the case at center. Probably will be the case at corner. Those would be the main ones.

“It’s just that close, it’s just that good really for four starting tackles. Kills me not to put Andrew Gentry in that category because he’s so good playing guard and tackle and to find ways to get him on the field. But I don’t know, I’d say if I had to pick the best one right now so far through 12-13 days at camp, Karsen Barnhart is having the best camp so far.”

So, halfway through fall camp, this Michigan football position battle is as tight as it can get; and for the time being, there is no end to this battle in sight.

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