Last week's bye came at a perfect time for Michigan, which was heavily banged up heading into and coming out of the Washington game. Key contributors Colston Loveland, Semaj Morgan, Tyler Morris, Myles Hinton, Dominick Giudice, Derrick Moore, Josaiah Stewart and Will Johnson have all missed at least one game this season.
It's game week again for Sherrone Moore's squad, and the Wolverines are preparing to take on No. 22 Illinois in Champaign on Saturday afternoon. No. 24 Michigan is a 1.5-point favorite over the Fighting Illini, according to CBS.
On Monday morning, Moore met with reporters to discuss the injury updates at offensive line as Michigan looks to get healthy in the trenches before it heads to Illinois. Starters Giudice and Hinton missed last week's game against Washington.
“If Myles [Hinton] is back, then Myles [Hinton] will be the starter at left tackle, and then we’ll see at right tackle,” Moore said. “I thought [Greg Crippen] did a really good job. I think he did a really good job controlling the line of scrimmage with the calls — especially in that environment — being pretty calm. But he’s been a guy that’s that’s traveled to different places, seen it, so it looks like he’ll cement himself there and continue to work there, but we’ll see what happens with [Giudice]."
Graduate tackle Jeff Persi filled in for Hinton last week in Seattle and posted some respectable numbers. He finished the game with an overall grade of 53.7, which is deemed "below average" by PFF, but his pass blocking grade of 80.4, which was second-highest on the team, was "good" according to PFF.
“Persi gave some great experience being an older guy, so it gives us a challenge at the other spot to see what he can do.”
Moore's comments on the right tackle position aren't overwhelmingly in sophomore Evan Link's favor by any means. However, Link did grade out better than Persi did in the game against Washington.
The Michigan head coach added that Hinton, Giudice and even Derrick Moore are all on the right track as it relates to playing against Illinois on Saturday.
“It looks like they’re trending all in the right direction,” Moore said. "So feel good about them. I think they’ll all practice today. I feel like we’re in a good place with them all.”
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