What’s the word on this year’s Michigan football offensive line?

Over the past two seasons, the Michigan football offensive line has had elite play, especially when running the football. The Wolverines have won two straight Joe Moore Awards (and counting), which are given to the nation’s top O-line on an annual basis; on top of that, this year’s offensive line is somehow looking like Jim Harbaugh’s best to date, further adding to the hype around what the offense will be capable of this fall. So, what is being said about the O-line during fall camp?

What is being said about this year’s Michigan football offensive line?

This year’s Michigan football offensive line has the potential to be the best in program history. Not only are the Wolverines talented, but rising stars across the board, coupled with a few high-end transfer portal additions, give the O-line the depth needed to create major position battles and bring out the best in everyone throughout the entire room. According to second-year offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, Michigan has 11-12 guys that are ready to go on game days.

“Yeah, I mean, competition only makes you better,” Sherrone Moore said of Michigan’s offensive line depth. “So the more guys that are playing at a high level, the better. And it just keeps breeding high energy, keeps breeding the preparation, keeps breeding the passion and the physicality that we want at every position. So I want those guys to just keep striving to be the starter. Right now, I feel like we have 10 guys, 11-12, that we can play in the game. So we’re just super excited about the depth — this is the most depth we’ve had. And kind of keep rolling and excited for what the next couple of days and how the days of training camp are evolving.”

One day at a time for the Wolverines

Additionally, according to long-time star lineman Trevor Keegan (guard), this year’s Michigan football offensive line is taking things one day at a time.

“… Our big thing is to be where your feet are, so just take it day by day. Our big thing right now is process over prize,” Keegain stated. “We’re not going to win a national championship today. It’s gonna take day-by-day, 1% better each day and it’ll take care of itself. So that’s kind of my mindset.”

New transfers are standing out

What about the new transfers? Right now, it appears that LaDarius Henderson, Myles Hinton, and Drake Nugent could all be gunning for starting roles. It feels like a safe bet to assume that Henderson will get the starting nod at left tackle and that Nugent will start at center, but Hinton is the player to watch right now. There is some questions surrounding the right tackle spot, and with a new massive frame and plenty of development, there is still a chance that Hinton will find himself a starting role by Week 1.

“Obviously, all three of them, including Drake (Nugent), they’re really good people,” Keegan said of Michigan’s three new transfer linemen. “LaDarius and Drake were both captains at their last program, just really good guys. They bring a new mentality to the room. They’re workhorses, they want to work. Obviously, they played in spring so they want to try to earn the roll in fall camp so you know they’re working hard and it’s pushing everybody else.”

A 10-lineman set for the Michigan football offense?

According to Sherrone Moore, this year’s Michigan football offensive line room knows how deep it is, and wants to see more linemen on the field. In fact, Zak Zinter even proposed having 10 linemen on the field with one running back and daring the defense to stop it — any chance we see that this year? Probably not, but Moore does point out that his linemen sometimes have a few good ideas.

“Every day, the linemen are sending me plays and formations, so I’m like, ‘can you guys just worry about what you’ve gotta do?’ But I love that they’re conceptually trying to understand,” Moore explained last week. “And they really do, they conceptually understand the offense so that we’ll talk about down the road … Sometimes they do (have good ideas). We won’t talk about some of them that maybe get implemented or not, but they do have good ideas. Most of them are well thought out, some of them are just thrown against the wall.”

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