Early leaders for Michigan Football's 2024 starting offensive line
It's no secret Michigan Football's success in the last three seasons has become behind one of the nation's best offensive lines. While replacing starters is nothing new, replacing all five starters and your 6th best lineman is something else. That will be the task for recently promoted offensive line coach Grant Newsome.
In a recent appearance on In the Trenches, Newsome shared his thoughts around strategy in finding the next starters and gave a pretty good idea of who the leaders are heading into spring camp.
"It's going to be a challenge, but I also think of it as a great opportunity," said Newsome to Jon Jansen. "For myself, for the guys in the room, most importantly, to kind of have a clean slate."
That clean slate is a new starter at every position. Michigan has lost a lot of experience to the NFL this offseason, but thanks to a transfer last season and a transfer this offseason, Michigan has some starting experience in 2024.
"Myles coming back, has some experience starting at tackle, Josh (Priebe) coming in will be a huge, huge addition."
Myles Hinton started last season at RT before moving to a rotation role after an early season injury. He could start at either tackle spot. Josh Priebe transfers to Ann Arbor from Northwestern and brings multiple seasons of experience, starting at LG. Neither is locked into a role however, as Newsome believes the goal is to find the best players first, then go from there.
"I think the biggest thing is you've gotta find the best five. That's another nice thing, a great part of the opportunity. It's really a clean slate and it'll be our job as coaches to find the best five as coaches and develop those guys and, obviously, well beyond those five."
Hinton and Priebe bring the most experience, but Michigan is fortunate to have two talented linemen who they consider starter material and were simply blocked by players like Trevor Keegan and Drake Nugent.
"I think Greg (Crippen) is a great example, especially in today's day and age, of a guy who has put his head down and worked. The reality is, we brought in two All-American level centers the last two years. Instead of being upset or transferring or kind of going in the tank, he put his head down and just worked. The reality is, he starts for 95, 98, 99 percent of teams across college football last year. We felt like that in this building, there would be no drop-off if we needed him to play."
Crippen is expected to start at center after battling Olu Oluwatimi and Nugent in the past two seasons. The other starter-caliber player looking to get off the bench in 2024 is Giovanni El-Hadi.
"I think it's one thing that was encouraging for us to see from Gio last year was to really kind of see him start to find his voice. The maturity and the other pieces that come with that. I think the exciting opportunity for a guy like Gio will be to step into that leadership role."
It really starts with those four. Hinton at one tackle spot, El-Hadi and Priebe at guard, and Crippen at center. El-Hadi and Priebe have each spent their careers at left guard, so unless neither is strong enough at right, you assume one would slide over.
For the fifth spot at tackle, Newsome mentioned two players to be considered early leaders.
"We'll have a good mix of guys this spring. We'll have guys like Jeff Persi, Andrew Gentry, guys who have played in games for us. Persi started against Rutgers back in 22. We're fortunate that we've had a whole bunch of guys who weren't tasked to be starting in the last couple of years just because we had so much older experience on the offensive line that we feel like they're very, very good players. I'm excited to see them compete."
Persi started at left tackle in that 2022 game against Rutgers, but also played right guard in backup duty in 2023. Gentry took snaps at every position except last season, but primarily right guard and left tackle.
Michigan is not lacking depth with its offensive line, despite the departures. Newsome has seen first hand as a player and a coach, what competition means at Michigan, and he is looking forward to multiple guys getting involved.
"You've got guys like Amir (Herring), Raheem (Anderson), Nate (Efobi), there's a lot of guys on the interior of the offensive line who are going to have a great opportunity to step up along with those early enrollees. I'm a firm believer that competition brings out the best in everyone, and I think back to my playing experience, competing with Ben Bredeson and all those older guys on the offensive line as well."
The leaders heading to spring appear to have the most experience, which is to be expected. But Michigan once again has a room loaded with talent, which means competition and, ideally, a two-deep full of starting-caliber players.
"As you know, more than five will have to be ready. Find the best five to start and make sure we have 10 or 12 developed that we feel comfortable playing."
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