Jim Harbaugh addresses plan for Michigan's starting offensive line

Michigan might’ve finally found an offensive line combination going forward after the Wolverines bullied and bruised Nebraska for the better part of Saturday afternoon. But head coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t ruling out finding ways to get his sixth and even seventh offensive lineman on the field.

Ahead of a road trip to Minnesota this Saturday with the Little Brown Jug on the line, Harbaugh shared the outlook on the offensive line going forward. The performance from the starting five on Saturday is the bar to try and clear moving forward.

“LD [LaDarius Henderson] and Keegs [Trevor Keegan] probably played the best of any of our two offensive linemen in a group that was really good in this game, one of our best,” Harbaugh said on Monday.

Michigan rolled out the following starting five linemen on offense on Saturday: Henderson at left tackle, Keegan at left guard, Drake Nugent at center, Zak Zinter at right guard and Karsen Barnhart at right tackle.

That group looked dominant against a Cornhuskers defense that, entering Saturday, had the top-ranked rushing defense in the country. The Wolverines put up more than 200 rushing yards and committed not penalties in the win, despite playing on the road for the first time.

With the five starters mostly settled, that leaves, at least, two men out: tackles Myles Hinton and Trente Jones. There are more linemen Harbaugh wants to play, such as Jeffrey Persi or Andrew Gentry.

Rather than be confined by keeping his starting five on the field, Harbaugh might just play the rest of his linemen if he can find a way.

And given Harbaugh’s track record of doing things other coaches might never consider, perhaps Michigan will be platooning offensive linemen as the season rolls on into Big Ten play.

“Well, Myles is working through something and he’s playing — he’s shown to be a great player, team player, unselfish guy. But gosh, I mean so is Trente. So is Andrew Gentry, Jeff Persi, there’s just so many good guys in there, right? Just wanna see them out there. We do a thing with the defensive line, rally group, where — maybe, maybe, haven’t really done anything quite like that on the offensive line. But, in spots, perhaps, a rally guy goes in and he’s fresh and he’s good, could we use that to our advantage? I think we really have to explore that and look at that,” Harbaugh said.