The Michigan Wolverines' football offensive line will have a revamped look in 2020 after losing four starters from its 2019 unit.
Redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield is the lone returning starter, with a multitude of veterans and youngsters vying for the open jobs in the four spots to the left of him.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh signed an outstanding six-man offensive line class in 2019 (Karsen Barnhart, Zach Carpenter, Trente Jones, Trevor Keegan, Nolan Rumler and Jack Stewart), all of whom redshirted last year and will now be expected to compete for starting spots in 2020.
Will at least two of those aforementioned redshirt freshmen come out on top in their respective position battles heading into 2020, and in the process usher in a new talented wave of young linemen?
TheWolverine's Clayton Sayfie and Austin Fox discuss below:
Austin Fox — Sell
Offensive line is arguably the most difficult position to predict on Michigan’s entire team heading into 2020, with a plethora of players realistically having a shot to earn starting jobs.
It’s safe to assume Mayfield will once again earn the starting spot he occupied at right tackle in 2019, but the four spots to the left of him aren’t as cut and dry. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes seems to have a leg up on the starting left tackle job after playing in 10 games last season, meaning the three interior positions are where the majority of the question marks lie.
The two redshirt freshmen who appear to have the best chances of becoming starters are center Zach Carpenter and guard Nolan Rumler, though some may throw Karsen Barnhart into that mix as well if he’s being trained as a guard.
The two guard spots will basically come down to whether or not a pair of redshirt juniors in Chuck Filiaga (on the left side) and Andrew Stueber can hold off the youngsters, most notably Rumler and again, potentially Barnhart.
It’s now or never for Filiaga after holding down the No. 2 left guard spot behind Ben Bredeson over the last two years, while Stueber has at least seen some crucial game action after starting the final two games of the 2018 season against Ohio State and Florida (he then missed the entire 2019 season with injury).
Center is undoubtedly a two-man battle between Carpenter and fifth-year senior Andrew Vastardis, and is once again the perfect example of a veteran having to hold off a youngster for the starting job.
The wild card on the interior positions is the inexperience the starting candidates — both the upperclassmen and youngsters — primarily all possess. Though veterans, both Filiaga and Vastardis have seen very few meaningful snaps during their time at Michigan, while Rumler and Carpenter haven’t seen any snaps (Barnhart, meanwhile, only saw the field for 13 plays last year as a freshman).
With all that in mind, we’ll predict one redshirt freshman offensive lineman to earn a starting job this fall. It’s difficult to pinpoint which one that will specifically be, though Carpenter coming out on top over Vastardis may be the safest bet.
The young guards will be expected to give their veteran position-mates everything they can handle, and it’s entirely feasible that one or two of them (the youngsters) come out victorious.
The amount of inexperience that lies on the interior is what makes it such a difficult unit to predict, which is why we’re ‘playing it safe’ and anticipating only one redshirt freshman to earn a starting role.
Clayton Sayfie — Sell
Redshirt freshman offensive linemen can make an impact. We saw that last year with Jalen Mayfield at the right tackle spot. He impressed many in his first season of being a starter, and now he’s in the first round of 2021 NFL mock drafts.
U-M has a very big and solid group of redshirt freshmen on the offensive line this season, which bodes well for a unit that lost four starters to the NFL. U-M has six redshirt freshmen up front.
They all have bright futures, but which ones of them will take a starting job this year? The No. 1 candidate is center Zach Carpenter, after U-M lost Cesar Ruiz to the first round.
Carpenter will compete with former walk-on, fifth-year senior Andrew Vastardis. While Vastardis wouldn’t be a bad option there, Carpenter has a ton of upside and natural talent.
He showed a lot in practice last year, earning the team’s Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year award. We’ll say he wins the job. After Carpenter, it gets dicey and hard to predict.
One would assume redshirt sophomores Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield are the starting tackles, leaving both guard spots are up for grabs. Will it be redshirt junior Andrew Stueber who slides down from tackle to guard, becoming an interior starter? If so, we’ll say he’ll be on the right side.
The next big question — and the one that essentially decides how many redshirt freshmen start on the o-line — is whether or not redshirt junior Chuck Filiaga takes control over the starting job at left guard. If he does, Carpenter is the lone redshirt freshman that starts. If not, the top two candidates to nab the other guard spot would be from the 2019 class — Karsen Barnhart (who the staff loves at tackle in the future) and Nolan Rumler.
We’d say, right now, Barnhart would be the most likely out of those two, and even though he’s a natural fit at tackle, it might be a case of having to get the best five on the field.
When it’s all said and done, we’ll go with the “under” on this one, giving the veteran, Filiaga, the 51 percent chance of starting (though it's as close to a true toss up as it can be).
While we won’t know what happens until the season begins, one thing is for sure, U-M’s six-man redshirt freshman crop of offensive linemen will continue to help make Ed Warinner’s room one of the most competitive and talented ones on the team.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
