Michigan OL Josh Priebe: Northwestern 'not going to fear' Wolverines this weekend

ANN ARBOR – Michigan Wolverines graduate offensive lineman Josh Priebe will play his final home game in a Maize and Blue uniform on Saturday against the Northwestern Wildcats, which also happens to be a reunion game.

Priebe, who has started every game at left guard this season, spent the four years before this one in Evanston and gets a look at a familiar group of guys coming to town. Even with the number of big-name opponents on the schedule, he had this one circled the moment he joined the program.

“This is a game I’ve been looking forward to since I came here,” Priebe said Monday. “The majority of the guys on that team are guys I’ve played with the past four years. And I’m really good friends with those guys. It’s gonna be fun to play against those guys in a game environment. Having been there for four years, they pride themselves on being tough, and physical and certainly not gonna fear an opponent like Michigan or anyone else they’ve played.

“Any team in the Big Ten is going to be a tough opponent. They’re a tough team.”

The 4-6 Wildcats will come in with a chip on their shoulder coming off a loss to Ohio State last weekend, and Priebe is not expecting a warm embrace. The two teams will get after each other on Saturday in Ann Arbor, he says.

“It’s hard to say friendly because football is very physical just not friendly game in general,” Priebe said. “I’m just gonna have the same mentality I always do, and just try to go out there and play my best game and be as physical and dominant as possible.

“The right tackle, Ben Wrather, he’s like my best friend. So we talk often. A lot of our games have  crossed over with a lot of their opponents. We’ve even talked about some of those guys, just kind of personnel things. So, I definitely, keep in contact with some of those guys.”

Michigan always has a target on its back, in good seasons and bad, because of its standing in the college football universe. Teams relish the opportunity to get a crack at the Block M, and Priebe says the team understands it will have to bring its best on Saturday in Ann Arbor.

“Regardless of who that is we’re going to have to play our best ball and execute at a high level to win the game,” Priebe said. “That’s a big game and a great opportunity. That’s something that Northwestern in general kind of prides themselves on, is having that chip on their shoulder and people doubting them is a source of motivation.”

Priebe decided to make the jump between Big Ten programs for the opportunity it would provide to be developed and play meaningful games throughout the season. It was also a bit chaotic given some of the turnover from the transition from Pat Fitzgerald to David Braun in Evanston.

“When I was leaving there, it was kind of all over the place, because you had all of Fitz’s prior staff was pretty much all still there,” Priebe said. “Coach Braun had, towards the end of the season had the interim tag was taken off. You didn’t really know what was going to happen, who he was going to retain, who he was going to hire new positions for.

It was kind of a little chaotic there at the end, trying to figure some of those things out.”

Michigan is not in much better shape than the Wildcats are at 5-5 on the season, but Priebe does not regret his decision. The value of joining the program goes beyond football for him.

“We’re disappointed with the record and with how things have gone,” Priebe said. “It’s one of those things… I had a lot of people ask me did you like see this coming? It’s like, I didn’t see or anticipate things going the way they are.

“You can only control what you can control. And I’ve still had I’ve still built great relationships here and still been having a whole lot of fun playing football and I’m focused on what I can do to help the team win these last two games and how we play it better as an offensive line.

“Outside of that, I’m really not too concerned with much else.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET with Fox Sports 1 carrying the broadcast.