ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the past three years, the Michigan football offensive line has been dominant, twice earning the Joe Moore Award given to the best OL in college football. But in Week 1 against Fresno State, the line hardly looked like the best in the country, let alone in the conference.
With Texas up next, things have to change in a hurry. And one prominent Michigan lineman believes that it will.
Harkening back to what head coach Sherrone Moore said at his Monday press conference, senior left guard Josh Priebe said that it was usually only one of five making a small mistake that caused some breakdowns, and that all of that should be fixed quite quickly — if not by next week, as the season rolls along.
“Easily correctable — easy to correct,” Priebe said. “And I think we played pretty physical. And I think as the season goes along, we’re only gonna get closer as an offense and as an offensive line, and just continue to improve each week and play better together.”
Despite being a transfer from Northwestern, Priebe has come in as one of the best linemen on an O-line that’s had a lot of wholesale changes from a year ago. In his first taste of playing in a winged helmet, Priebe says that he likes where the line is in its stage of development and cohesion.
But it wasn’t just mistaking the simple things. Part of the issue on Saturday was that many of these players were making their first start, or in the case of center Dominick Giudice and right tackle Evan Link, really getting their first taste of playing time. Once they settled in late in the game, then the line starting looking like vintage Michigan.
“Honestly, overall, I thought it was pretty good,” Priebe said. “Our communication overall, there wasn’t really anything where there wasn’t a whole lot of missed assignments, stuff like that. So a lot of stuff was just some one-man breakdowns and, like I said, just some technique stuff that through practice can be easily corrected. And certainly, you know, nothing that we’re super concerned about.
“I think, too, just like for a lot of guys, and even myself just playing my first game here, getting that kind of those first game jitters out, and certainly, once you get rolling the season here, I think why that stuff’s going to be eliminated.”