When Michigan opens spring ball Feb. 29, junior left tackle Mason Cole will get a look at center, head coach Jim Harbaugh said Friday.
“He’ll get a look right off the bat,” said Harbaugh. “It’s about finding the best five to be the starting five.”
A 25-game starter at left tackle, Cole has practiced at center each of the past two springs and could be the best choice to replace departed starter Graham Glasgow.
Meeting with reporters at an autograph signing Friday afternoon, Harbaugh added a few more personnel notes leading up to spring ball:
• Redshirt junior Khalid Hill will get a look at fullback after playing tight end in his first three years. The 6-2, 270-pounder has made eight catches for 108 yards in two seasons but could be the answer to the question – who will take over for departed fullback Sione Houma?
• Redshirt freshman Zach Gentry has moved from quarterback to tight end. The 6-7, 230-pounder was a four-star QB out of New Mexico and sources had told TheWolverine.com as far back as the fall that there was a consideration to move him to tight end, however, recent reports had him competing at quarterback with redshirt junior John O’Korn.
• Redshirt sophomore defensive back/offensive weapon Jabrill Peppers will be healthy when spring ball starts. He missed Michigan’s Citrus Bowl victory over Florida with an undisclosed injury to his upper body (believed to be a broken hand).
• Outside linebacker/defensive end Carlo Kemp is the early-enrolled freshman that has most caught Harbaugh’s eye.
“Carlo Kemp seems like he’s been here a couple of years. Just a guy that has been around. He’s at ease with everything,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe a little bit of that Pagano background. His grandfather was a football coach, his uncle is a football coach [Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano].
“Very mature, very smart. The 4.0 type of guy. He looks like he’s in the groove.”
• Fifth-year senior receiver Jehu Chesson is recovering from “something” and will be slowed at the start of spring ball. However, he will make a full recovery.
Also on Friday, Harbaugh explained his decision to host Michigan’s spring game on a Friday, at 6pm: “Friday April 1 is Bo Schembechler’s birthday, Bob Ufer’s birthday. It had some [meaning]. It adds something to it.
“Friday Night Lights. It’s nice to do it under the lights. Not the stale 12pm Saturday spring game. Something different.
“Why not?”
Harbaugh was vague when reporters asked him about the fact that Michigan is still presently three scholarships above the 85-man total its allowed after signing 28 recruits Feb. 3.
“We’re at a total of 103 players right now. It doesn’t make a difference between scholarships and non-scholarships to me,” said Harbaugh. “It’s the team.
“It’s 103 right now and then there will be 22 more coming [as signees] plus some preferred walk-ons as well.
“We have to be at 105 when we start training camp. The cage match to begin on Feb. 29.”
Harbaugh also referenced a cage match when he discussed the pending quarterback battle, repeating his now infamous focus on the “meritocracy” at Michigan.
“When a competitive thing is happening, that’s something the whole team takes notice of,” he said. “That will be happening at quite a few positions. All of them. Nothing is set in stone.
“As we said this is a meritocracy. Let’s move from meritocracy to cage match.”
Finally, Harbaugh gushed about the 14 students that tried out for the team recently and made it, particularly a player we believe to be Logan Pratt, a football player from U-D Jesuit in Detroit.
“They’ve been keeping up well, and we’re looking forward to seeing them on the field … guys that were going to the University of Michigan on their own,” he said. “A lot of them are freshmen. Pratt is one that is a junior but if he walked in here right now, you’d say ‘He belongs.’”
When asked if Pratt had a first name, Harbaugh responded, “He’s just Pratt for now.”
