60 days until Michigan football: How good will Drake Nugent be?
There’s much anticipation heading into the Michigan Wolverines football season, and TheWolverine.com is counting down the days until the Sept. 2 opener against East Carolina. We’ll discuss current Michigan events, the upcoming season and/or take a look at a significant number that correlates with how many days remain until kickoff, whether it be a player’s jersey number, a year, a date, a score, etc.
Michigan football has not been shy to add pieces via the transfer portal over the last few offseasons, especially at the center spot. The Wolverines had a stable presence at center in 2021 in Andrew Vastardis but replaced him in 2022 with former Air Force and Virginia lineman Olu Oluwatimi.
Oluwatimi was not only a stabilizer, but an upgrade. He started all 14 games for Michigan last season and wound up winning the Rimington and Outland awards.
There are now massive shoes to fill, but another transfer enters the program in the form of Stanford’s Drake Nugent.
Nugent was an honorable mention All-Pac 12 selection in 2022 and was also named to the Rimington and Outland watch lists. He joins a pair of transfers in Stanford teammate and right tackle Myles Hinton and Arizona State’s LaDarius Henderson, who will compete for the left tackle job.
Nugent is expected to start at center, and actually graded slightly higher (80.5) than Oluwatimi (79.9) on Pro Football Focus last season. The two ranked 7th and 8th, respectively.
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The buzz from the offseason is that Nugent is expected to be another strong piece for the Michigan offensive line.
While it might be tough to outplay Oluwatimi, the Wolverines should not experience a dropoff in the middle of the offensive line. At worst, they have a proven starter that has played at a high level in major college football.
Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter playing on each side of Nugent should make for arguably the best interior line combo in college football. If the Wolverines are to win a third-straight Joe Moore Award, Nugent’s play will likely have a lot to do with it.
Michigan football countdown to kickoff
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