Despite the offensive line’s lack of continuity this season for Michigan, each player is always ready to go in at a moment’s notice. This stems from the coaching staff’s focus on fostering healthy competition and maintaining a state of preparedness:
A lot has changed as it pertains to the starting five of the Michigan Wolverines ’ offensive line in the eight weeks since the season began.
Against Fresno State, Myles Hinton, Josh Priebe, Dominick Giudice, Giovanni El-Hadi and Evan Link were the starting five, from left to right. That isn’t the same five getting the starting nod now, though. Despite being eight games into the season, Michigan’s offensive line hasn’t found any sort of continuity, with players shuffling in and out.
Although a lack of consistency creates certain problems, it also provides possibilities. Instead of looking at the struggles, the Wolverines instead are focusing on the benefits of fighting for opportunities and remaining locked in.
“For us as coaches, we’re continuing to challenge them, keep them engaged and continue to let them compete and push themselves,” offensive line coach Grant Newsome said. “We talk every single week. The best five guys are gonna play who we feel like are gonna go out there and give us a chance to win that specific week. … I think that healthy competition is a good thing, and it’s something we’re gonna continue to do.”
Michigan isn’t focused on who started a month ago or even a week ago. The only week it’s focused on is the week ahead. Instead of remaining tied down to who has started in the past, the Wolverines are instead looking at who the best five guys are every given week.
With this approach, players who didn’t earn a starting spot out of fall camp have a unique opportunity at redemption. To prove themselves. And several players have already cashed in on that.
Center Greg Crippen and right tackle Andrew Gentry are two recent example. Crippen and Gentry both failed to win a starting spot coming out of fall camp, but neither let that defeat them. Instead of dwelling on past shortcomings, they dedicated themselves to reaching their goals.
Now, after biding their time, they both have starting spots.
“Greg and some of these other guys have the motivation themselves to keep working and understand that you have to prepare like you’re the guy, so when you are the guy, you’re ready to go,” Newsome said. “You look at Gentry — even when he didn’t win the starting job out of camp, he continued to prepare as if he was the guy, and ultimately started practicing better and then earned the opportunity to go out and be the number one guy the last couple of weeks. So I think it comes down to that.”
For those who didn’t make the cut at the start of the season, they didn’t let that stop them. For those who originally started the season but eventually were benched, it’s a similar story.
Being replaced after earning the spot you’ve worked so hard for is a painful reality, and it can be difficult to handle. With the Wolverines’ shuffling offensive line, though, it’s clear that nobody’s off the table. As long as you put in the work and remain dedicated, you have a chance. For Evan Link, who was a starter in the season opener but lost the spot to Gentry two weeks ago, he understood that.
Gentry left the game with an injury last week against Michigan State , and Link’s number was called upon. Even in a different role, he embraced the opportunity.
“I was proud of how (Link) handled it,” Newsome said. “Obviously (it) was not perfect, still a couple of mistakes in the game, but for coming in after having not played for a game and a half essentially, and all the kind of emotions and things that can go with having a change made, I was proud of how he came in and he fought. And again, it’s a credit to him that even when Gentry took over as the guy, he never complained or whined or moaned.”
For Michigan’s offensive line, it isn’t about getting the start, it’s about earning it. That’s why the Wolverines are zoned in on putting the best five out there on a week-by-week basis. So far, the players have bought in on that.