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Starting RT Myles Hinton blunt about performance in Michigan debut

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•09/04/23•

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Myles Hinton Jaylen Harrell
(Photo by Michigan football / Twitter)

The Michigan Wolverines lined up Stanford transfer Myles Hinton at right tackle on Saturday in his team debut, which was a much different experience than he was used to.

In 23 games played and 16 starts at Stanford, which has been less and less competitive in the years since head coach Jim Harbaugh left, he was used to crowd noise in iconic venues meaning that you screwed something up.

Now, he has the largest gameday fanbase in the country cheering him on, and it is a bit of an adjustment.

“It was crazy,” Hinton told the media on Monday morning. “It was way different than anything else I’ve experienced. Even playing away games at like places like Notre Dame, where there are a lot of fans, just having people cheer for you is kind of crazy.

“I still kind of get anxiety. Like the crowd goes wild. ‘Oh, God, what went wrong?’ because you’re used to going to these big away games.”

Perhaps it was first-game jitters or offseason rust, but Hinton felt like he did not perform his best in his Michigan debut. The Pro Football Focus grades coming out of the game agreed, labeling his Week 1 performance at 56.1 overall, allowing three pressures against East Carolina.

Hinton earned the start in the first game in large part due to a strong finish to fall camp, but he feels like Saturday was a step backward for himself.

“I don’t feel [I performed] very well to be frank,” he said. “My feet were all over the place. I just need to calm down and settle in and get with the program because I didn’t play like I practiced. I played like I was unsure. I felt like I played out of character.

“It could be anything, but that’s what I put on film, so I gotta deal with it. I don’t really know what contributed to it, but we’ll figure it out, and we’ll fix it for the next game, for sure. I guess I need to tell myself to lock in [and] do better. Like, you’re not beating yourself right now.”

Michigan’s tackle competition is expected to continue to stretch into the next few weeks as it tries to find its best five players ahead of conference play. Graduate Karsen Barnhart started at left tackle, and LaDarius Henderson and Trente Jones are also expected to rotate in.

The Wolverines are going to leave no stone unturned in finding its best guys because the non-conference allows for that opportunity. Hinton welcomes the challenge and perpetual competition.

“I feel like it gives you a chance every week to prove yourself as a solidified starter,” Hinton said. “So I think it’s good because you never get comfortable. Comfort is like the enemy of greatness because once you start getting real complacent and chilling is when you start plateauing in your growth.”

Hinton and Michigan are back in action next week against UNLV at Michigan Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

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