Jon Jansen knows a thing or two about the offensive line, particularly when it comes to how a successful offensive line unit works while at Michigan.

Winning a national championship with the Wolverines in 1997 and going on to have a lengthy career in the NFL, Jansen has been around the U-M program for quite some time and has gotten a firsthand look at just what makes the offensive line unit so successful under Sherrone Moore.

With many familiar faces returning to the unit that won back-to-back Joe Moore Awards, there are some holes that will need to be filled this year.

Appearing on M&BR's Good Afternoon, Michigan Football podcast, Jansen was asked about what he wants to see from the unit heading into, and out of, training camp in a few short weeks/

"Here's what I want from the offensive line coming out of camp, you want to have a starting five, a five that have worked together because there's going to be some new parts," Jansen said. "Obviously, Hayes is no longer there. You've got LaDarius Henderson who is coming in as a transfer, you've got Myles Hinton coming in as a transfer, I'm sure they're going to be part of the conversation, especially LaDarius. Inside, you're going to have a new center no matter what happens because Olu has moved. Is it going to be Drake Nugent at center? Probably. Greg Crippen, his backup."

Another factor that has added to the success of the Wolverines' offensive line unit is the ability to play depth without seeing a significant drop-off. There have been times in the past two seasons were linemen had to fill in due to injury or other factors and the level of play did not take a hit in the process.

This year, one could argue that the offensive line is even deeper, which is a very good thing for the unit as a whole.

"The beautiful thing about this offensive line and the great thing that I've noticed since Sherrone Moore has taken over as offensive line coach, he does a great job during the week of practice, and during training camp, of working guys in," Jansen said. "Knowing who his five are going to be. But, if Zinter goes down, who is going to be the guy who goes in there? Probably going to be Giovanni El-Hadi at either guard position. Last year, when he went in, you never noticed anything in terms of a dropoff. There was never a timeout, it was just, hey, you plug and play.

"That's going to be the beautiful thing about this offensive line is that it's all plug-and-play. They could go 8, 9, 10 deep and have no dropoff in production."

Of course, the players on the line aren't just satisfied with being depth, there is also a desire to play, too.

With reps limited, the Wolverines do like to rotate players when the program feels it's necessary to do so.

So, how would Jansen operate a rotation if he had the choice?

"I do think that early on in this schedule because the teams—let's face it, there's not going to be great competition and you want to get guys a lot of experience," Jansen said. "It could very well be a hockey-like shift change. It's not going to be in the middle of a play but you could shuffle those units in and out. For me, as an offensive line coach, it would be more of a feel. Are the guys that are in there right now, if the first unit is in there, have they had a chance to get a rhythm going? Have they had enough opportunity to get experience and see enough looks?

"Probably two, maybe three series and then I would put the other guys in. Unit number two and do the same thing. I want to make sure they get into a rhythm and make sure they see a few things, a few blitzes. They gotta communicate. Maybe they get into a third and long or short-yardage situation. I want to be able to see those things. You never know what's going to happen but if you can manufacture some of those throughout the course of a game, then that would be ideal. Especially those first three and I will even throw in Rutgers, that first Big Ten game, those first four games, I think you'll see a lot of both units."

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @lucasreimink

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram