Was The 2020 Offensive Line Draft Class The Best Michigan Had Ever Seen?

The Michigan Wolverines' football team saw four of its offensive linemen come off the board in this past weekend's NFL draft (center Cesar Ruiz, left guard Ben Bredeson, right guard Michael Onwenu and left tackle Jon Runyan), which has since raised the question — was this U-M's best draft class among its front five ever?

The answer actually isn't as clear as one would hope, with some research dating all the way back to the 1940s required to provide a concise response.

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The official Michigan record books list the 1944 and 1948 draft classes as having had four offensive linemen taken as well, though there is some debate surrounding two specific players (one in each class).

The four linemen taken in 1944 were guard Merv Pregulman (first round to the Green Bay Packers) and a trio of tackles in John Greene (fifth round to the Detroit Lions), Bill Pritula (14th round to the Lions) and Bob Derleth (29th round to the Lions).

The controversy surrounds Greene, who actually wasn't even a starter at Michigan, but instead served as a backup at the quarterback and offensive tackle spots before becoming an outstanding receiver in the NFL for the Lions (caught 173 passes for 2,965 yards and 26 touchdowns).

A similar scenario followed in 1948 when — according to the U-M record books — the Maize and Blue produced a four-man offensive line draft class made up of center Jim Brieske (12th round to the New York Giants), guard Quentin Sickels (17th round to the Lions) and a pair of tackles in Ralph Kohl (17th round to the Philadelphia Eagles) and Bruce Hilkene (30th round to the Pittsburgh Steelers).

Again, however, there is a position debate surrounding one player, with Brieske this time being the culprit. Despite being listed as a center, Brieske served as Michigan's primary placekicker in 1942, 1946 and 1947 (missed the 1943 season with injury and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in 1944 and 1945), setting what stood as several of the school's PAT (point after touchdown) records at the time.

To further exemplify how rare large offensive line draft classes have been, consider this: excluding 2020, 1948 and 1944, Michigan has only seen six years in which three of its o-linemen were taken in a single draft — 2001, 1993, 1982, 1978, 1957 and 1949 (the NFL draft began in 1936).

There is no controversy surrounding any of the players in the five aforementioned draft classes, with all 15 of them viewed as bonafide offensive linemen.

• OG Merv Pregulman (First round to the Green Bay Packers)

• OT John Greene (Fifth round to the Detroit Lions)

• OT Bill Pritula (14th round to the Detroit Lions)

• OT Bob Derleth (29th round to the Detroit Lions)

• C Jim Brieske (12th round to the New York Giants)

• OG Quentin Sickels (17th round to the Detroit Lions)

• OT Ralph Kohl (17th round to the Philadelphia Eagles)

• OT Bruce Hilkene (30th round to the Pittsburgh Steelers)

• C Dan Dworsky (Second round to the Green Bay Packers)

• OG Joe Soboleski (Ninth round to the New York Giants)

• OT Al Wahl (16th round to the Chicago Bears)

• C Mike Rotunno (Seventh round to the Cleveland Browns)

• C Jerry Goebel (25th round to the New York Giants)

• OG Clem Corona (28th round to the Philadelphia Eagles)

• OT Mike Kenn (First round to the Atlanta Falcons)

• OG Walt Downing (Second round to the San Francisco 49ers)

• OG Mark Donahue (11th round to the Cincinnati Bengals)

• OT Bubba Paris (Second round to the San Francisco 49ers)

• OT Ed Muransky (Fourth round to the Oakland Raiders)

• OG Kurt Becker (Sixth round to the Chicago Bears)

• C Steve Everitt (First round to the Cleveland Browns)

• OG Joe Cocozzo (Third round to the San Diego Chargers)

• OT Doug Skene (Eighth round to the Philadelphia Eagles)

• OG Steve Hutchinson (First round to the Seattle Seahawks)

• OT Jeff Backus (First round the Detroit Lions)

• OT Maurice Williams (Second round to the Jacksonville Jaguars)

• C Cesar Ruiz (First round to the New Orleans Saints)

• OG Ben Bredeson (Fourth round to the Baltimore Ravens)

• OG Michael Onwenu (Sixth round to the New England Patriots)

• OT Jon Runyan (Sixth round to the Green Bay Packers)

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