Michigan Wolverines Have Surprising Candidates Emerge As Starters On Offensive Line

The Michigan Wolverines are replacing over a dozen starters from their 2023 national championship team. There haven't been many starting decisions made public, but it does seem like many of the positions are starting to solidify ahead of their season opener against Fresno State.

Left tackle, left guard, and right guard have all been settled by Myles Hinton, Josh Priebe, and Giovanni El-Hadi, respectively. The center and right tackle position battles have been closely fought all offseason, and two surprising names have emerged as serious contenders if not the outright favorites to start.

One position battle that has surprised many is at right tackle. This week, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore highlighted it as a close battle between Andrew Gentry and redshirt freshman Evan Link.

Last season, the Wolverines had a right tackle rotation of Karsen Barnhart, Trente Jones, and Myles Hinton, all of whom played over 200 snaps there while the offensive line tweaked and battled injuries.

Andrew Gentry saw limited action in ten games, playing every position but center last season. It had been assumed that he was the hands-on favorite to win the starting job, but Link pushing him is an exciting sign to see for Michigan fans.

It's rare for a redshirt freshman to start on Michigan's offensive line. The ones who have started that early have been tremendous talents like Ben Bredeson, Mason Cole, Jake Long, and the like. For Link to be as ready as he is so soon has his development arrow pointing skyward.

The center position has been tightly contested between Greg Crippen, Raheem Anderson, and Dominick Giudice. While Crippen started the offseason as the favorite to win the job, Giudice has made a strong push to start.

Giudice is a fascinating study. A former three-star recruit, Michigan recruited him as an edge rusher, coming in around 250 pounds. He bulked up and moved to defensive tackle to start his career before flipping over to the offensive line last year.

Wolverines offensive line coach Grant Newsome raved about Giudice's mentality and adjustment over to the offensive line.

"He’s taken to offensive line in general really, really quickly, and then to center as well. That position is very much mental. You’re the quarterback of the O-line and besides the quarterback, you’re the only person on the field who touches the ball every single play. So it’s as critical a position there is in football. So he’s done a really, really good job putting himself in the mix there...He’s one of those three guys at center we feel like we go out and win another national championship with."

Michigan has counted on talented center play the last two seasons, with Olu Oluwatimi and Drake Nugent manning the pivot position with aplomb. A former edge rusher potentially starting there isn't exactly comforting if you were expecting the same level of play, but he can get there, Giudice might have the most fascinating development journey I've seen for a lineman.