Drake Nugent has 'that dawg in him,' opponents are playing 'catch-up' compared to Michigan OL

Michigan Wolverines football‘s three incoming transfer offensive linemen — graduate center Drake Nugent, graduate tackle LaDarius Henderson and senior tackle Myles Hinton — didn’t participate in spring ball, but all three have made strong impressions through several fall camp practices.

“It’s been great. LD, Myles, Drake all came in, learned the play book right away and have just been dudes out there on the practice field so far,” Michigan senior right guard Zak Zinter said Monday.

“Drake’s got that dawg in him. He goes out there and grinds his butt off. Myles and LD — elite, big tackles that can get out, protect, [and] they’re good in the run game. It’s been nice getting out there and meshing with them.”

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Nugent is playing next to Zinter at center, and he’s impressed in the early going. Both were banged up in the spring, too, and had the chance to work out together while the others practiced. Nugent’s mentality and work ethic have stood out. Offensive coordinator and line coach Sherrone Moore has told him he always looks angry, and Hinton — a former teammate of Nugent’s at Stanford — said he’s a “diesel” with an “insane motor.”

“I don’t know,” Zinter chuckled when asked what it is about Nugent that stands out. “We were both out in the spring, and we were doing conditioning in practice and stuff. We were wearing heart rate monitors, and this dude was always in the red, no matter what. I don’t know what it is — he’s got like a fifth gear that kicks in and he goes.

“Me and him and a couple other guys were running with the big skill during conditioning time. When everyone’s hurting, he’s got that extra gear where he gets going. I don’t know exactly where it comes from, but he’s definitely got it in him.”

Nugent is battling junior Greg Crippen for the team’s starting center spot, but he’s the presumed favorite. The 6-2, 301-pounder was named to the watch lists for the Rimington and Outland trophies, handed out to the nation’s top center and interior lineman, respectively.

Nugent earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors each of the last two seasons. Per PFF, he was charged with allowing just 4 sacks in that span, logging 993 pass-blocking snaps. He played in 27 career games with 24 starts with the Cardinal.

‘Ten on the field and a running back’

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said at Big Ten Media Days that he has 10 starting-caliber offensive linemen, showing just how deep the Wolverines are in the trenches. Zinter joked that U-M could get creative with its personnel groupings this fall.

“Coach Harbaugh said it, we’ve got 10 dudes that could start damn-near anywhere in the country,” Zinter said. “It’s great to have depth on the offensive line. It’s going to take more than just five starting guys to play this year and to get us the wins. 

“You guys have seen some big packages out of us last year, so who knows, maybe we’ll get 10 on the field and a running back. It definitely opens up some stuff to get creative.”

There are 151 combined college starts among Michigan’s offensive linemen. Zinter and other veterans have taken it upon themselves to see the bigger picture this season, knowing everybody’s job and the ‘why’ behind it.

“A goal of mine and a couple other guys on the offensive line is we call it that balcony view — seeing everything besides just what the offensive line’s job is on a play,” the Michigan lineman explained. “Knowing a formation — if it’s 3-by-2, 2-by-1 — if we’re bringing a motion across the field and it brings a backer out, we can sit back on that end. Who are we reading? Being able to see if it’s one high, two high [safeties]. Where the defense is rotating to see where a pressure is coming. Just seeing the full picture to help pick up protections and be able to protect J.J. and get going in the run game.”

Having such a savvy group has helped out Moore in his first season as Michigan’s sole offensive coordinator.

“It’s been running smooth,” Zinter said. “Coach Moore is calling the plays, doing his thing. And then when we come off, we kind of just meet as a group. If we need to talk about it, we’ll grab him and bring him over. But we’ve got older guys in the room, where we can on our own come off to the side with [Michigan junior quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] and the backs. ‘Hey, did you not get that signal we were trying to give to the back?’ Or, ‘Did you see that pressue?’ We kinda talk amongst ourselves in practice, but I’m not expecting anything to change in the game.”

The culture in the Michigan offensive line room is extremely strong. Despite being loaded with so many capable players and only five players on the field at the same time (in most cases), Zinter is proud of the fact that no offensive linemen transferred away this offseason. Junior guard Giovanni El-Hadi, who’s been lauded as a standout and performed well in his playing time last season, is a great example. He’s had to wait his turn.

“Gio is being Gio. He’s a beast out there, too, throwing people around,” Zinter said with a smile. “He loves to pull and hit people.

“It takes more than five offensive linemen to win a game. When you’re playing in the trenches every day, there’s bound to be injuries. Somebody is going to get hurt, something is going to happen.

“And nowadays, when people have a little adversity or they gotta wait a little longer, they jump into the portal and go somewhere else. And I think that’s a tribute to just the culture that we have here, where we got a lot of offensive linemen that could start a lot of places, and they chose to stay here and help this team win this year.”

Opponents playing ‘catch-up’ to Michigan offensive line

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker and other Big Ten rivals said at the conference’s media days last month that their teams are bigger than before on the defensive line, potentially in reaction to being roughed up by the back-to-back Big Ten champion Wolverines last season.

“I don’t think we do anything different,” the Michigan lineman stated confidently. “We had all offseason to get bigger, faster, stronger, too. They can try to make it an emphasis, and we definitely make it an emphasis to run the ball. They’re playing catch-up right now, so we’re just going to keep doing what we do.”