Michigan football injury report: Jim Harbaugh updates status of Ryan Hayes, Karsen Barnhart, Nikhai Hill-Green

Michigan Wolverines football had a mostly healthy fall camp, but the Wolverines were without two starters in the season opener against Colorado State, a 51-7 win. Graduate left tackle Ryan Hayes was out with an undisclosed ailment, and junior linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green missed the outing with a “soft-tissue injury.”

On the Inside Michigan Football radio show Monday night, head coach Jim Harbaugh provided an update on both players ahead of the team’s matchup with Hawai’i.

“I definitely expect Ryan Hayes to be back, and we’ll see on Nikhai more towards the middle of the week,” Harbaugh said.

With Hayes out, Michigan senior Karsen Barnhart, who’s considered the Wolverines’ “sixth starter” on the offensive line, opened the game at left tackle. However, he went down with an ankle injury in the first half. Senior left guard Trevor Keegan kicked out to tackle, and sophomore Giovanni El-Hadi was inserted to the lineup at left guard.

While Harbaugh said after the win over the Rams that he didn’t expect Barnhart to be out long, he revealed Monday night that the Paw Paw, Mich., native is doubtful for Saturday night with a sprain.

“Probably not for this game,” Harbaugh said. “He’s going to be OK. He’s going to be OK going forward. Probably, out of caution, will keep him out of this game.”

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Either way, it appears Michigan will be back to its original starting lineup against the Rainbow Warriors, with Hayes at left tackle and Keegan at his more natural spot of left guard.

Michigan was able to get El-Hadi some valuable experience. His extended run marked his first taste of meaningful playing time in a winged helmet, after redshirting and appearing in just one contest in 2021.

Harbaugh said he acquitted himself well.

“We were really happy with Gio — really pleased,” Harbaugh said. “Comes in right off the bat and has a play where he’s pulling. He’s really good at pulling. He’s a physical guy. He’s come a long way, already been a talented player.

“It’s just confidence. OK, Gio’s in there, we’re running a pin-and-pull to the right, go, Gio’s going to be pulling here. Didn’t miss a beat.

“Trevor Keegan going out to tackle, his versatility showing there.”

In fact, Keegan and junior right guard Zak Zinter graded out the highest among the offensive linemen per Michigan’s internal ratings.

“Olu had a heck of a game,” Harbaugh continued. “Zak Zinter, really good game. Physical, graded out the highest on [offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator] Sherrone Moore‘s grade sheet.”

Michigan senior Trente Jones started his first career game at right tackle, and he made some nice plays in the run game. In pass protection, though, he yielded 3 pressures and the Wolverines’ only sack.

“Trente — good, but Trente is one of my favorite guys. I like watching number 53. I have really high expectations for Trente,” Harbaugh said. “When you see him do stuff good, then you just expect it, right? OK, now we have evidence that you can do it good, now we’ll just expect that every week.

“For Trente and Gio, and those guys, Keegs, we know. We just know that they’re good and versatile and you can count on that every single week.”

Michigan not lacking in motivation for Hawai’i game

Hawai’i is one of the worst teams in the FBS, having already lost two games — to Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky, not exactly upper echelon teams — by a combined score of 112-27.

Michigan has extremely high expectations for this season, and the Rainbow Warriors appear to be a pushover. The Wolverines are favored by 50 points. However, Harbaugh said his team will have no shortage of motivation.

“You take nothing for granted — ever,” Harbaugh said. “Also, respect every opponent that you play. Also, we’ve got to get better. We have to take this opportunity to improve our team as much as we can, get as good as football as we can.

“You probably watched the same games as I watched. Not just the ones in our conference that all looked really good, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State and the others. Georgia — caught them, they smoked Oregon. Alabama looked really good and a lot of the others.

“We’ve got our aspirations pretty high. If we’re going to meet some of those we will have to waste no time, waste no days, waste no practice days or game days or any hours in trying to get as good at football as we can get.”