ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Expectations for the Michigan football offensive line were sky-high, and there are no surprises as to why.
The Wolverines’ front won the last two Joe Moore Awards, given to the nation’s best offensive line. No other team has ever won the award two-years in a row. And with four starters returning in Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter, Trente Jones, and Karsen Barnhart — along with the additions of LaDarius Henderson, Drake Nugent, and Myles Hinton — the expectations were through the roof for the unit.
However, it hasn’t been nearly as dominant as it perhaps has been in the past two years. While the line has only given up two sacks, the run game hasn’t quite had the push it’s been known for. But it can take time for it to jell. The past two years, it wasn’t necessarily as much of a mauling front as it ended up being.
Offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore is pleased with where the line is at the moment, noting he’s seeing precisely what he needs to see.
“Yeah, I see just a lot of camaraderie,” Moore said. “I see the guys, the glue starting to stick a little bit more. And guys are starting to fill each other out and really get — the inside three really, you can see that mesh, but now the tackles, whatever combination tackles are, you can see those guys kind of sticking together and filling out, as well. So it looks like it’s coming together. And I thought this last game, they played really, really well overall as a group, played fundamentally sound in run game and did a lot of really good things. And there’s always things to clean up. But those guys are really coming together.”
When he watches the film, what does he see? What gives him evidence that the line is following along a similar path to the previous two iterations?
Really, more of the same of what took place previously, but it’s just becoming more consistent.
“You see the physicality, when you put on the film, guys are finishing, you’ve seen people put other people on, on their back,” Moore said. “You see the domination, you see the line surge up front, and then you see the continuity and the communication. And you hear when I talk to them. So what I see on film is what I’m getting out of their mouth, from the sideline and when we get to the meeting. So you can see that growth, and it’s taking steps every year. It always does, especially when you got five guys working as one to take some time to really hone in and you can see that the game experience of those guys being together really coming together.”
Fans will get another opportunity to see the line in action on Saturday when the Wolverines travel to Lincoln to face Nebraska.