Leading Michigan O-Line Is Something Sherrone Moore Doesn't 'Take Lightly'

Michigan football co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore is in the middle of his first spring in his new position after being promoted by head coach Jim Harbaugh from tight ends coach this offseason.

Michigan linemen have already expressed how pleased they are with Moore's coaching style and ability, and they're embracing the new man in charge of the line.

"It’s been great, man. The guys have responded well," Moore told Jon Jansen on the 'In The Trenches' Podcast. "The juice levels are high; it’s been really good."

A former offensive lineman at Oklahoma, Moore knows what it's like to be in the shoes of the players, something that should give him advantage in his new role. He's excited to be the guy they look to for guidance.

"It’s something I don’t take lightly. It’s an honor, it’s really a pleasure, first of all, for Coach to believe in me to do the job," Moore said. "And it’s something that I’m not going to take for granted.

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"Every single day, I come in here with the attitude that, we gotta win, and we gotta win now, we gotta win that day. If you win that day, those days build up, and all of the sudden you’re winning a lot in the fall. That’s the attitude we’re taking here in the building, that’s the attitude I’m taking myself.

"I’m super excited and take tremendous pride in the fact that those guys are looking me in the eyes for the answers, want the answers and need someone to boost them up, and I’m excited for that challenge to do that. It’s been fun so far, and I just can’t wait to continue to do it on game day."

As co-offensive coordinator, Moore said that he's going to be more involved with the run game and, although it is a transition, he was heavily involved already when working with the tight ends. He also acknowledged that he has more players in his position room, which could be a challenge, but he hasn't had to meet anybody for the first time since he's been with the program since the 2018 season.

"The good thing is I’ve had pretty good relationships with most of those guys anyway — they know I’ve played the position," Moore said. I found myself talking to those guys, they’d ask me questions about different things already."

Now, Moore is tasked with finding the best five linemen to put on the field, along with developing depth behind them. They're off to a good start in that regard, already nine spring practices in.

"Every practice is graded. We grade every single practice," Moore revealed. "We have a score system that not only holds up in our room, but throughout the whole team, which I think is really good. Coach developed the scoring system, and it’s really helped us.

"You see things, and you notice. We ranked the offensive line the other day, and it was crazy because the ranking actually reflected the point totals of practice. The film is going to tell it all, and it’s going to be, as we manipulate different things and put guys in different spots, who can handle what.

"Just keep attacking every day to make sure we’re at full strength and those best five guys are out there in the fall. I think the scoring system and the grades that we’re putting out are really not only holding us accountable but holding the players accountable to themselves each and every day. And the guys are loving it. The guys are competing. They want to have a high grade; they don’t want to be shown as a low grade, so they’re doing everything they can to make sure they put themselves in position to grade out high every day."

While Moore has been described as a 'more relatable' coach, he's still going to hold his players to an extremely high standard, which is the expectation Michigan, where high-level offensive line play has been the norm for decades.

"The number one thing is the accountability part to themselves, and then my accountability to them to coach them hard but not downgrade them for a mistake," Moore said. "I told them, mistakes are going to happen, and obviously that’s going to hurt your grade, but it shouldn’t hurt you as a person or as a player. We want you to do that so that it doesn’t happen when it comes to game time.

"And as long as you’re doing it full speed, we can correct them. We can’t correct the effort. So just keep instilling the positivity in that."

Moore was asked by Jansen about several of his offensive linemen, from some of the veterans all the way down to the early enrollee freshmen. Here is what he had to say...

• Sixth-year senior center Andrew Vastardis: "It starts with a knowledge of the game and understanding the different pieces and how they move in front of them defensively from a defensive line standpoint — fronts, looks, the second level with the blitzes and the linebackers, and even the secondary piece.

"Andrew, especially since he’s been in the offense and started last year, he’s got a full understanding of what’s going on, and I think that extra year helps him, playing a lot of football, being around a lot of football. And then off the field, understanding what college is all about, being able to maneuver in the atmosphere and adjust to different things that may happen. Those are elements and variables that people don’t really look at, but that’s part of being a college student-athlete, is being on your own and time management. Those guys have been through the fire."

• Sixth-year senior Willie Allen, who transferred in this offseason from Louisiana Tech: "Willie, first of all, he’s a huge human being, large, large man. Great kid, great person. But he brings some strength, he brings some power because of his size, and then just his experience, he’s still picking up the offense and figuring out what to do, but he brings a great advantage of size and length that you need."

• Redshirt junior Andrew Stueber: "He’s been really, really good for us. He’s been versatile, he’s been able to play a couple different positions. He’s been very impressive through the practices that we’ve had. Just excited to watch him and grow for the rest of spring and into fall camp, because he’s been really good. He’s been a great leader for the guys on and off the field, since he’s experienced and played here. Very excited for his progress."

• Redshirt junior guard Chuck Filiaga: "I think it’s the opportunities that are there, guys take advantage of it. Chuck’s been doing a really good job for us to just continually get better and grow on and off the field. I think he’s continuing to learn and grow. Excited for where his ventures are at and where we’re going to go with him, for sure."

• Redshirt sophomore tackle Ryan Hayes: "The biggest thing for Hayes is the strength part. He’s gotten stronger, he looks stronger, he looks bigger. And the footwork and the athleticism, he’s always had.

"So I think it was just fine-tuning those other pieces, and those are starting to come together. And the other piece is the mental, the confidence piece, which I feel like he’s starting to grasp. As this spring has gone on, you can see this look in his eye of, ‘I’m figuring this thing out,’ of how to be a top-notch player, confident player. It’s starting to all click for him."

• The group of redshirt freshmen (tackle Karsen Barnhart, tackle Trente Jones, guard Trevor Keegan and guard Nolan Rumler): "I think all those guys are playing at a really good level, and it’ll be interesting to see who the best five are. I told them when I first got there, it doesn’t matter who started last year or the year before, it’s who the best five are when we walk out there next fall. So those guys have had an open opportunity to take advantage of it, and all those guys have stepped up, so it’s going to be fun to continue on this spring."

• Freshman Zak Zinter: "Expectations for him are super high. I think you saw flashes of how good he can be in his first year. Then he ended up coming out with an injury at the end of the year. He’s come back to full strength, and he’s been great this spring. Another one of those guys that has been versatile, moving around a little bit. Just want to see him continue to climb and take the steps to be a dominant player."

• Early enrollee freshmen (center Raheem Anderson, tackle Tristan Bounds, center Greg Crippen and tackle Giovanni El-Hadi): "It’s been pretty cool to watch these young freshmen come in. They’ve done a great job of learning the system before they came to the spring. They probably know as much for young guys as I’ve ever been around.

"Huge credit to that is [graduate assistant] Grant [Newsome]. Grant did a lot of preseason stuff with those guys, and you can tell that it’s paid off. They’ve done a really good job of understanding what’s going on. Obviously, there’s some things that have happened; they’ve made mistakes, and you live with those mistakes as long as they’re going full speed and going hard.

"But the guys are attacking it, man. It’s been a fun group to watch, and they’re a really talented young group. They’re going to be really good in the years to come."

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