Dominant interior, developing depth on the Michigan offensive line
“It’s like 1990s Michigan football all over again.”
That’s the consensus on the Michigan offense — especially the line — heading into the 2022 season. Head coach Jim Harbaugh has developed outstanding depth at almost every position, but the O-line, especially, seems like the Michigan of old.
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Michigan returns a pair of guards that should dominate with their size and experience. Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter both played a lot of football last year, and both are preseason All-Big Ten (possibly more) candidates.
“By the end of spring, Trevor was the starting left guard and Zak was the starting right guard,” line coach Sherrone Moore said on the In the Trenches podcast with Jon Jansen. “Both those guys had a really, really good spring, and both those guys picked up where they left off.
“Both of them changed their bodies even more [than last year]. Credit to [Michigan nutritionist] Abigail [O’Connor and the strength staff. The guys eat up the weight room, they eat up the nutrition part of it. They look even better. They’re slim. They’re toned, but they’re still strong and twitchy and athletic.”
Those two, along with Virginia transfer and Rimington Award finalist Olu Oluwatimi at center, should give Michigan an even stronger interior this year. The Wolverines also have a chance to be better at the tackle positions.
“Those guys really did a good job from the guard spots, and then at the end of the spring Ryan Hayes was still the starting left tackle and then Trente Jones stepped in at the right tackle spot,” Moore continued. “From there, we still have a lot of competition, because Karsen Barnhart is [champing] at the bit.”
But what of the Michigan backups?
Jeffrey Persi had a solid spring and made a move at left tackle. He improved a lot this spring. Tristan Bounds has work to do, but he’s coming on.
“Tristan and Persi, every day you can see them climbing in spring ball from the first practice until now,” Hayes said. “The future of the tackles is in good hands.”
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At center, Greg Crippen “had a little hand injury but is going to be fine,” Moore said. “He’s really coming into his own as a center.”
He’s not the only one working there on the Michigan line.
“Raheem Anderson really took some strides this spring and did a good job for us,” the Michigan line coach continued. “In the Spring Game, we had Zak Zinter in there at center, and it was like a seamless transition for him. So if we ever needed him to go to center, we could do that, too.
“We’re always training all those guys to be centers and training the inside guys to play all three positions. Sometimes some of the inside guys play outside. It’s a revolving door to make sure we keep training guys that are game ready to play that position.”
Crippen is playing center and guard, and Gio El-Hadi played well for Michigan at guard in the spring.
“He had a really good spring and stepped it up as a redshirt freshman,” Moore said. “And then Jeff Persi and Reece Atteberry (who missed the end of spring with injury)— we had a lot of guys step up and have a really good spring.
“I’m very excited of where we’re going and the guys competing against each other to get better.”
