Michigan spring game: Offensive line progressing, but still needs work
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore had one goal in mind for this year’s spring game, he insisted after watching Bryce Underwood and the Blue team beat Jadyn Davis and the Maize Saturday —
“All in all, I just wanted to see everyone have fun, [and an] injury-free football game,” Moore said. “That’s what we got accomplished.”
At the same time, all eyes (including his, probably) were on the offensive line and how they would fare against a front seven that should be about as good as any in the country this year. Results were mixed in the 17-0 Blue victory in which the lines were split. Left to right on the Maize were Andrew Babalola, Gio El-Hadi, Jake Guarnera, Connor Jones, and Brady Norton. The Blue starters were Evan Link, Ben Roebuck, Greg Crippen, Nathan Efobi, and Andrew Sprague.
“I think the biggest piece is that they get challenged by that defensive line every day, and I think our D-line is going to be really deep,” Moore said. “It’s always different in the spring game because everybody is split up and there are different combinations of people; ones playing with twos, twos playing with ones, threes playing with twos. So, I don’t really get caught up in that.
“But I’ve seen them progress. I think Coach [Grant] Newsome has done an unbelievable job with that group, and they really fought every practice. You can see them getting better and better.”
Usually, he noted, the defense is ahead of the offense at this point, but Moore is confident they’ve “taken the steps necessary to be an explosive offense.” There weren’t a lot of explosive passing plays, minus a double flea flicker to tight end Jalen Hoffman (the player of the game) for 90 or so yards on the final play. But there were some good runs by the Michigan backs when they were in — Justice Haynes bounced outside on a 27-yarder and showed off his speed on one in the first half — and it’s clear freshman Underwood has the natural tools to be elite.
The big “but” here … he’ll need time to throw, and there were many occasions Saturday in which he didn’t have it. He was pressured from all sides and forced to throw early on several attempts — that will need to be cleaned up, and there aren’t many options. Michigan coaches have been looking to the portal to for help [to no avail so far], and Ferris State’s Lawrence Hattar could provide some when he arrives on campus.
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Saturday, Babalola, Link, and Norton all struggled with some one-on-ones in pass protection, and the Michigan interior was leaky at times, too. The caveat, of course, is that guys were often playing next to others they hadn’t been this spring.
Moore would name only three Michigan linemen he expected to start this fall.
“I don’t know. We’ve been circulating guys through on purpose to know we’re going to go into fall camp and have a starting five at some point, so there’s not really a solid starting five,” he said. “I know Gio El-Hadi will probably be a starter, Crip [veteran center Greg Crippen] will probably be a starter, and Andrew Sprague.
“Then there’s a rotation. It could be Brady Norton, Andrew Babalola, Nathan Efobi. It could be Evan Link in different spots. It’s going to be fun to watch these guys in the summertime and watch them through fall camp to see who the starting five are.”
Whoever they are, they’ll need to jell quickly. This group could be the key to the season given how loaded Michigan is at other positions, especially with a freshman projected to be the starting quarterback.
