Michigan football: Grant Newsome updates offensive line progress, potential starters
Michigan defensive line coach Lou Esposito had high praise Wednesday for the U-M offensive line under Grant Newsome, noting it didn’t matter who they rotated in … they continued to play at a high level. That was especially encouraging given his defensive line is already proven as one of the best in the country, including a pair of defensive tackles as good as any in the country.
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Still, Newsome has to figure out two positions heading into the Saturday night opener against Fresno State — center and right tackle. Head coach Sherrone Moore said he believed Dom Giudice and Greg Crippen were the frontrunners at the former and Andrew Gentry and Evan Link at the latter. Newsome, though, said Raheem Anderson at center and Jeff Persi at right tackle were also in the mix.
“We feel really good about multiple guys, both at center and the right tackle position,” Newsome said. “We feel truthfully we have three guys at each that we can go out and win a lot of games with. I’m excited to see how it continues to play out, and I know the guys we trot out there Saturday will do a good job. I have full confidence in even the guys behind them, excited to see how that group plays.”
He said it would be up to Moore to decide if they rotated during Saturday night’s game, but both he and Moore have noted it was a possibility in the past.
“We’re in a good position where we can roll out multiple guys at most positions and it would be really, really competitive,” Newsome continued. “I have full trust in those guys. It’s a credit to those guys in the room. I think they’re hungry. Either intentional or unintentional, they feel like they feel they’ve been kind of overlooked because of who we had in that room before them. It’s a credit to those six guys we had. They were really, really elite players.
“We’ve had some really good ones in that room behind them. I think they’re excited to go out and have their turn, so to speak, to prove how good they are.”
Giovanni El-Hadi at right guard, for example, would be playing in the NFL this year had he been at another school and not waiting his turn, Newsome praised. Giudice, meanwhile, has been one of the fall camp’s biggest surprises.
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“He’s done a great job,” Newsome said. “Obviously, not having an extensive O-line background … we really recruited him technically as an edge. He’s taken to offensive line in general really really, quickly, and to center, as well.
“That’s a position that’s very much mental. You’re the quarterback of the offensive line, and besides quarterback the only guy on the field who touches the ball on every play. It’s as critical a position as there is in football. He’s done a really, really good job putting himself in the mix there. He’s one of the three guys at center we feel like we can win another national championship with.”
The three battling at right tackle, meanwhile — Gentry, Link, and Persi — are also behind Myles Hinton at left tackle. They’re hoping and expecting Hinton to take a huge leap this year to become a force there.
“He’s doing a really good job. The challenge for him … he’s always had that unbelievable physical and God-given ability,” Newsome said. “It’s just becoming more of a vocal leader, and really becoming the guy in that room, which he’s embraced that challenge. He’s playing at a really high level right now.
“Obviously, the hay is not in the barn, but I’m really, really happy with how he played in spring and fall camp now. Right now, the way we see it, left tackle, left guard, and right guard are the ones that are set and good to go.”
