ANN ARBOR, MIch. — Jim Harbaugh's fifth Michigan football team will be without one of its projected starters for the season. Harbaugh confirmed that redshirt sophomore right tackle Andrew Stueber would miss the season.
"Andrew will not be back this year. He has an ACL tear," Harbaugh said.
Redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield, who was neck-and-neck with Stueber all camp, will start. Another redshirt freshman, Ryan Hayes, will back up both tackle positions, but Mayfield has played well.
"He's ready," Harbaugh said of Mayfield. "He was right there [with Stueber]. Neither was giving an inch at any time. You feel for Andrew Stueber because of that.”
Offensive line coach Ed Warinner said last week the plan had been to play both the 319-pound Mayfield and the 334-pound Stueber, 60-40. He wouldn't specify who was expected to start.
"I know it sounds like coach speak, but it was pretty close,” Warinner said. “We rotated them in spring. Of the 15 practices, seven of them one of them was a starter, seven of them the other was a starter."
In fact, they were dead even — within a play of each other — in the spring game. This fall, one player would pull away before the other would catch him, Warinner continued.
“They were fighting it out. It was pretty darn close," he said. "I think however it would have fallen, they both would have played quite a bit."
Redshirt sophomore Joel Honigford moved to tackle from guard to solidify the depth at the position. Freshmen Trente Jones, Trevor Keegan and Karsen Barnhart have also been competing. Warinner insisted he loved all of them.
"I am so glad we recruited all of them, and they could be factors this year. Hopefully, we can get them four games apiece and if we need them more, we will," he said. "We're not going to hold them back and tell them that they're redshirting. It's up to them."
NOTES
• Junior cornerback Ambry Thomas continues to work his way back from colitis and recently tweeted he's back practicing with his teammates.
"Ambry has been back in meetings, position meetings, participating in portions of practice this week," Harbaugh said. "In terms of whether he plays or not ... that will be decided by him and the doctors."
• Harbaugh announced senior Shea Patterson as the starting quarterback for Saturday night's opener with Middle Tennessee State, but redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey is also expected to play. Harbaugh said this summer he wanted to play both in every game.
"All options are open, definitely, in terms of that," Harbaugh said. "We would definitely like to play both," he said.
• Junior tight end Nick Eubanks was hand picked by Harbaugh to sit next to him in this year's team picture. Eubanks has continued to make strides blocking and should play a big role this year.
"I like everything about Nick," Harbaugh said. "Nick is one of my favorite players on the team, one of my favorite players I've ever coached. His progress has been really good. "He's been always really athletic ... he can run and catch, change of direction and everything He's really improved immensely as a blocker, and I think that's the thing that's separating him ... someone who can block inline as a tight end, also has the abilty to gain separation and catch the football, get downfield and run all the assortment of routes."
• Will Hart will continue to handle punting duties, Harbaugh said.
"Will was great last year and had a great offseason, has continued to be really good in camp," he reported. "He just keeps getting better and better."
The placekicking battle remains tight between Quinn Nordin and Jake Moody, while the returners have yet to be determined.
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