Michigan football offensive line will be a weapon again

The offensive line has been a critical part of Michigan football winning three straight games over Ohio State, three straight Big Ten titles, and a national championship.

Michigan won the Joe Moore Award twice. They have sent a number of players to the NFL, and despite losing all five starters to the league, Michigan should have a stellar offensive line once again.

Jim Harbaugh talked recently about how he sees the offensive line as a weapon. Michigan views offensive linemen in the same way.

They don’t always have the highest-ranked players, but Michigan football has shown it can evaluate and develop offensive line talent.

Michigan football offensive line is loaded

The Wolverines have three former top-100 recruits set to start on the offensive line in Myles Hinton, Andrew Gentry, and Giovanni El-Hadi. Greg Crippen, who is projected to start at center, was a four-star recruit, and Josh Priebe was Third-Team All-Big Ten last season for Northwestern.

El-Hadi and Crippen could start for just about any team in the Big Ten. El-Hadi started games in 2022 and there wasn’t any noticeable drop off. He’s a dude. Crippen is too.

The lynchpins are the offensive tackles. That’s where Michigan football needs to knock it out of the park with development. Yet, the good news is that Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines have been doing that for years.

Moore isn’t coaching the offensive line as a position group anymore, but he’s still the head coach. Grant Newsome also sounds like a star and after making the transition from tight ends coach to offensive line, like Sherrone, I expect the development to keep being exceptional.

Gentry and Hinton both have NFL potential. Hell, Hinton could be a first-round pick. Gentry is in his third year back after a break to take a Mormon mission. There’s a reason he was ranked so highly as a recruit and there were flashes in the spring game. There were also some rough moments.

If those two play anywhere close to their potential, Michigan football’s offensive line will be elite. That’s what I expect to see this season. It wouldn’t shock me if they had the best offensive line in the Big Ten again and it’s why I believe the running game will be dangerous.

Jeff Persi, Raheem Anderson, Evan Link, Tristan Bounds, Dominick Giudice, and Nathen Efobi are some of the dpeth names to know. Anderson could push to start though and Persi is in the mix at right tackle too.

Evan Link also has future starter written all over him. It’s just not clear if he will be ready for that this season. A lot can change by the time fall camp rolls around. But one thing that’s certain is that the offensive line will be a weapon for Michigan fooball once again.

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