Michigan football will be doing some retooling on the offensive line and hopes to, like the past three years, go 10-12 deep in terms of depth. But at this moment, we don’t even know for sure who the starting five will be.
While there are some strong contenders, nothing is set, not even in spring ball. But it’s a good jumping-off point.
On Monday, Grant Newsome met with the media for the first time since he was promoted to offensive line coach, and the former Wolverines left tackle sees a lot of potential in his room. In his nearly 20-minute interview, Newsome was asked specifically about a handful of players. Here’s what he had to say about those who look to be in a solid spot to contend for a starting role.
Crippen has done a great job of learning and maturing. He’s one of those guys who is really a technician of his craft. He’s in here sometimes as much as us coaches watching film, studying, trying to be mentally as sharp as he can possibly be, which is obviously huge at that center positon. I also think it’s awesome that he was patient and took his time. In this day and age, it’s not common, especially if you’re bringing back-to-back transfers at his position for a guy who is talented as he is to stick around. We’re very happy he did that and excited to see what he does with this opportunity to go out and try to win that starting center job.
I think any time you get a guy in that has starting experience at a position, there’s a possibility of keeping him there. We want to make sure we cross-train him in different areas and make sure that regardless of what the offensive line looks like, he’s in a position where he can help us at multiple spots.
Any time you have a guy who looks like that and moves like that and has the ability that he does, we always say that God doesn’t make too many people look like that and have that ability. For him, it’s kind of him putting it all together and you saw flashes of it last year. Part of it is staying healthy. I think he’s got all the ability in the world and I think he’s a guy who, potential-wise, has all the ability to be the next great first-round tackle at the University of Michigan. Now it’s on myself, as coaches, and on him to make that happen.
He started games for us at both left guard and right guard, he’ll be in the mix to compete at those spots. Excited to see how he’s handled his business this spring. Taking that next step in, not necessarily maturity, but leadership role. You’re an older guy but you’re behind six NFL offensive linemen to now, like I said, you still have experience in the room now, all of a sudden, you’re one of the elder statesmen so to speak. It will be awesome to see him use his voice even more and become a leader amongst the offensive line.
He’s done really, really well this spring. He’s been a Swiss Army Knife for us in years past where he’s backed up multiple spots. It’s been awesome to see him be able to compete and I think the other thing for him now going into this third year in the program but taking that mission he was out of football for two years. It’s been awesome to see that he’s kind of got his strength back and I think he’s able to compete at a high level. He’s been playing well and we’re excited to see how he and some of the other guys I mentioned before battle it out the rest of spring.
There’s multiple guys in the mix there. Andrew Gentry and Jeff Persi are both playing well and competing back and forth there. Happy to see some of the young tackles, too. Guys like Evan Link playing well at the tackle position. Blake Frazier has been impressive so far in his limited time on campus. There’s multiple guys competing at those spots. Excited to see that continue throughout the spring.