Where Michigan Football’s Offensive Line Stands Before Week 1

Michigan football is set to kick off the season this weekend under new head coach Sherrone Moore.

As the program’s former offensive line coach, he led the unit to back-to-back Joe Moore Awards as the best group in the country.

With several starters from last season departing to the NFL, what will the offensive line look like in 2024?

“This whole camp has been really good competition. We’re comfortable with whoever plays out there,” starting right guard Gio El-Hadi told the media at Schembechler Hall. “Whether it’s Dom (Giudice), (Greg Crippen), Raheem (Anderson), Evan (Link), (Andrew) Gentry, or (Jeff) Persi, we’re confident and we trust whoever is out there.”

The Wolverines have solid answers at left tackle (Myles Hinton), left guard (Josh Priebe), and right guard (El-Hadi), while the center and right tackle positions remain undecided.

Still, the culture and legacy of Michigan’s offensive line come with high expectations and a standard that El-Hadi is confident the position group will live up to.

“Building a whole identity. We have to withhold the standard. We don’t need 5 guys to play, we need 10,” said the redshirt junior from Sterling Heights. “We all have to be on the same page and we all have to be ready whenever our name is called. People are going to get hurt, that’s how it goes – it’s football. Whoever is up next, you gotta go up there and play well.”

The new group of starters includes only one from a season ago, but they’ve quickly gelled with years of experience developing together as underclassmen.

Hinton, the only returning starter, came up with a nickname to describe the group.

“Myles has been thinking about a name for ourselves and he brought up ‘Invictus,'” El-Hadi said. “None of us knew what that meant and he told us (the word means) unconquerable and unbeatable.”

How did they feel about it?

“I feel like that’s what we are.”

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Sherrone Moore gives update on offensive line battle

While El-Hadi’s perspective is valuable, Coach Moore and offensive line coach Grant Newsome will ultimately make the final call on who starts Saturday.

“Right now at center, we’ve got a couple of guys: Dom Giudice, Greg Crippen, and Raheem Anderson. Right now, it’s still a competition — Crippen and Dom I think have been the top two in camp so far, so we’ll see how they compete this week,” the first-year head coach said during his weekly press conference. “And then at right tackle, Andrew Gentry & Evan Link have been the top two candidates.”

Giudice, Crippen, and Anderson are all entering their redshirt junior season. Meanwhile, Link will enter his redshirt freshman season and Gentry is a redshirt sophomore.

As things stand, the offensive line battle could continue into the regular season.

Who will line up for the first play against Fresno State on Saturday?

“We’ll see how this week goes.”

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