WATCH: Balas and Skene talk Michigan O-Line, answer your questions
The Michigan football team’s fate will depend a lot on offensive improvement this year, most likely, starting up front. The offensive line has pieces, but we’re not quite sure how they fit together … in addition, the quarterback room is a huge question mark, and there isn’t much depth at wide receiver.
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Michigan coach Sherrone Moore wants to continue to run the ball, and that will be his philosophy, he said after his team finished up spring ball. They’ve got the running backs, the scheme, and — if Alex Orji is the guy behind center — another runner who can help move the chains.
First things first, though — they need to get the offensive line in check. Myles Hinton, Giovanni El-Hadi, Greg Crippen, Josh Priebe, and Andrew Gentry appear to be the favorites to start this fall, though the battle is ongoing.
“It’s always a balance of letting guys compete at one spot, but you’re also trying to find the best five,” Michigan offensive line coach Grant Newsome said this spring. “Move guys around so if stuff happens throughout the season that you have the ability to play guys at multiple spots.
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“You’re trying to let guys compete at one spot and feel like they have a home. I think it’s something that people don’t understand about playing offensive line unless you’ve done it … it’s as easy as changing which foot is up in your stance. Going from tackle to guard — obviously, center is a different animal in itself — it’s tough to be able to play at multiple spots at a high level. We consider that and try to balance that with still making sure we’re putting the best five out there no matter what the circumstances may occur.”
He’s confident he’s got the right guys in the Michigan offensive line room to accomplish that.
“Just because we lost six guys who started a ton of games [at Michigan] — it’s not like the next group is all freshmen or redshirt freshmen,” Newsome continued. “There are a lot of guys in that room, like [MIchigan senior] Greg Crippen, that have started games here. Jeff Persi started a game two years ago now. Gio started games for us here … Myles started games. Josh has started games elsewhere.
“There are a lot of starts in that room, so there’s a lot of guys who have played football at a high level. Now it’s going to be them on them, myself, on us as a coaching staff to find the best five and continue to develop beyond that and find the best chemistry in the room. We haven’t viewed it as, hey, we’re starting from zero. It’s just continue to develop the guys no different than you would any other spring.”
Chris Balas and former Michigan offensive lineman Doug Skene break it down in today’s video podcast.
