• 8 months ago
Transcript
00:00 All right, last but not least, I almost skipped over it again. I almost skipped over the offensive
00:04 line stuff again, but I do want to, I do want to start or do want to finish with that because
00:10 outside, outside of the quarterback battle, I think same thing my dad said, I think it's
00:16 the most important and most intriguing thing to watch develop coming into this season.
00:22 Michigan sent six dudes to the combine crazy. You only start five. They sent six, uh, because some,
00:29 you know, they had different combinations of starters throughout the year and some guys got
00:33 hurt. So all new, every single player that's going to be starting this year is going to be a new guy.
00:39 I mean, there are dudes who have started, but there's no regular returning starters on the
00:44 line. Everybody else's is gone. Um, so I'll start right there, dad. How you, you mentioned it as one
00:52 of the things you want to see, how big of a worry is that Michigan wants to run the ball a thousand
00:56 times a game. They don't really have a quarterback right now that we know of. And now they also have
01:01 to break, break in five brand new offensive linemen. Oh, by the way, with a new offensive
01:07 line coach as well, grant Newsome, who's like 27 or 28 years old. Well, the good thing is we still
01:13 have Cheryl Moore. Yeah. Yeah. That's a pretty big thing. Yep. That'll, that'll make that unit
01:20 gel very quickly. I would think. Yeah. He, he, I mean, and he took over as, as kind of like a new,
01:29 he played the position in college, but he was the, I don't think he ever coached O-line at central.
01:34 And then he got to Michigan. He was tight ends and then he moved to O-line and you're like, well,
01:38 now he's at least back at his natural position that he played. How's this, how's he going to do?
01:44 And he wins two Joe Moore awards in a row for the best O-line and the running attack is elite. And
01:48 then, you know, that's his, it's his identity. So, yeah, I think, I think it's a good thing.
01:54 He's still there. So he can dictate how that group comes together. And I think Jim Harbaugh said,
02:03 he's been saying for a few years that grant Newsome was going to be maybe one of the better
02:07 coaches out of all of them. And he just, he just loved the guy went on and on about his ability.
02:13 Yeah. Dan, go ahead. Yeah. I think that would be great. They got this new young
02:18 coach that there's a lot of hype around. Obviously Jim Harbaugh was high on it,
02:21 but he's also been on multiple like 30 under 30 lists and things like that.
02:25 Over the last few years or 35 under 30, whatever they were, the couple of different ones. I can't
02:30 remember exactly what they were, but I think they got to bring this new coach in with all this hype,
02:35 but they also didn't lose their coach. Like he's still there. He's not their position coach now,
02:39 but he's still there just like Scott just said. So I think that'll be huge. And I mean, normally
02:44 when you look at the depth chart and go, yeah, there's not a lot of starting experience there,
02:49 but look what they're following up. I mean, these guys did play. It's not, it's not like there's
02:54 nobody on the roster with any, any game experience. There's guys that have played. You only got two
02:58 guys with real, real starting experience. But I mean, I think there's a lot of guys, you know,
03:04 when you have the kind of guys that are going out the door, if you didn't have like those studs,
03:09 like these guys have more playing time. So you can't just go, well, they're not, they're just
03:14 not very good. Cause they haven't started. No, they played behind like NFL guys, five,
03:18 there's going to be enough guys on this roster to put together a still a pretty dang solid
03:22 offensive line. Yeah. Yeah. I agree, Eric. That's something that I'll be interested to pick your
03:27 brain on a little bit. If you do get to be on the sidelines, just, you know, kind of how these dudes
03:32 look, you know, up close. I mean the lineman, you know, sometimes you just, you get next to him.
03:36 You're like, well, that guy's a stud. You can just see they're just, they they're built different.
03:40 They look a little different. You know, Michigan hasn't had a ton of guys like that, but we'll,
03:46 we'll see what this group looks like. I guess how closely are it again? This is where
03:50 I really did wish they ran the ones. Cause it would be awesome to see. I don't, they're not
03:55 giving any secrets away. I mean, come on, man. Like, you know, like I said, I'm about to put my
04:00 predicted starting lineup up there and I'll be shocked if it's not close. So like, if, if,
04:06 if I'm doing that here down in my basement, I'm pretty sure like the staffs that the other big 10
04:10 schools can probably figure some stuff out. But Eric, I mean, how closely are you going to be
04:14 watching something like that when you're down on the field? And again, high chance that you don't
04:19 see your starting tackles together and your starting guards in the center, but still something
04:24 to look for. Sure. So I was scanning the roster a few days ago to try to figure out the answer
04:29 to this question on who I think could start for Michigan on the whole line next season.
04:34 And one thing that I noticed is there's six, seven, maybe eight different players
04:38 for a six foot five or taller while also being 310 pounds or heavier. So for a team that will
04:46 probably like to employ some road graders out on the offensive line, they have the size to do it.
04:51 So it'll be interesting to see. Yeah. They're not small. Like, you know, that was,
04:56 that wasn't an issue under Brady Hulk, but he did not, he never had depth like this,
05:01 even though he was like a trenches guy. I mean, last year's team was one of the,
05:06 I wrote an article about, I'm like, this is maybe the deepest offensive line I've,
05:10 I've ever seen. I mean, cause I mean, you're seeing it. Six of them are gone and they might
05:14 be like Dan said, just fine. Like literally just fine this year. They might not miss a beat. That's,
05:20 that's not insulting to the group leaving it, but it is kind of a testament to how they've
05:25 been brought along. And yeah, you've got these guys that have learned from the best,
05:30 five NFL, six NFL guys, and we'll see what it looks like. So I think Dan said it, two guys that
05:35 have significant starting experience. One of them is I think if Dan and I are on the same wavelength
05:40 here, one of them's a transfer, but you do have you do have miles Hinton. Well, they're both
05:47 transfers, but one transferred this year, one transfer this year. Correct. Yes. Miles Hinton
05:51 made most of his starts out of Stanford. He started the year last year as Michigan starter,
05:56 and then was moved around a little bit, got dinged up a little bit and just kind of,
06:00 just kind of fell to the background a little bit. And obviously Michigan's line was fine,
06:04 but he was the guy out of the gate to start along the offensive line. So,
06:08 four starts last year, right? Four or five. Yeah. Something about halfway. And then he got,
06:13 like I said, he got hurt and he still played down the stretch. He became like the jumbo
06:17 and jumbo certainly applies. He's six, seven, three 40. Grant Newsome said that he's now,
06:24 if you've got, if you've got an offensive line coach saying that he might be the next first round
06:29 tackle, he's gotta be a starter. You can't, you can't say that about a guy
06:34 and then have him on the bench. Right. Right. Yeah. He started as a starter. You can put it in.
06:42 So I think he's your left tackle. Yeah. Josh, the transfer from Northwestern has started 28 or 29
06:52 games at left guard. 29 games left guard. Yep. So I think that's your left guard in the big 10
06:59 at Northwestern. I'll skip over center for now because it seems like there's only one guy there
07:04 too. But so Gio Al Hadi Giovanni Al Hadi is the other guard. He's also made starts at left guard,
07:10 but to me, like you just, you just don't move pre-B out of that spot. No, he'll start. He's
07:15 too good there. Right. Like that's, that's what it's gotta be. And Al Hadi's versatile enough.
07:20 I think he's played at right guard, but he's only made starts at left. I think that's right.
07:24 So I think he's your right guard. And then it sounds like Greg Crippen is the guy at center.
07:30 He's really the only one that everybody talks about. He's got some reps before behind the two
07:35 transfer guys, the last couple of years, Olu Olu with Timmy and then Drake Nugent last year. And
07:40 Crippen was kind of the first guy in both years. He's played in 16 or 17 games. Yeah.
07:46 Played at IMG Academy. I know there was always like that thought like, Oh, him and JJ, they got
07:50 this thing. Well, then Michigan went out and found phenomenal guys in the transfer portal.
07:54 So it never happened for Crippen to Dan's point. Not that he wasn't good enough, but like,
07:59 damn dude, look who he was behind. Like it just, it was what it was like running in caliber
08:04 centers. Yes, exactly. So I think he's your guy at center. I think the biggest line of question
08:11 marks is, is that right? Tackle you've got, I don't know, two or three. Jeff Percy has made
08:17 a start at left tackle. I don't know if he's played at all at right tackle. Actually, I could
08:23 look back at his, they usually break that down a little bit. I don't know if he's played on the
08:27 right side. Maybe then you've got some young guys. I think ultimately though, I think it's Andrew
08:35 Gentry. He's an, he's another guy that gets talked about a little bit more than the rest.
08:40 He was a big time recruit for Michigan when he came through, but then he did a two year mission.
08:45 So that, you know, that for alignment, that, that takes some time to get back. And I think
08:50 he's finally kind of back. He's been at Michigan for two or three seasons now. And he's another
08:57 horse. He's like six, eight, like three 15. I mean, he looks the part. These dudes are all,
09:03 you know, Percy has that one start on them, but other than that, they have basically the same
09:07 playing time. I mean, we've both gotten in about 10 games. So if it's me and again, I I'm not in
09:15 the practices, but just on paper, it kind of makes the most sense. You've got Hinton at left tackle,
09:20 pre B at left guard, um, Crippen at center, Al Hadi at right guard Gentry at right tackle.
09:28 And that's again, to Eric's point, you've got six, seven, six, eight book in tackles.
09:33 You've got versatile, pretty experienced guards. I mean, yeah,
09:37 Al Hadi's only started three games, but that's, that's worthwhile. He replaced Trevor Keegan.
09:42 And then you've got Crippen who again, might've been the guy the last two years,
09:47 if it wasn't for the success they had in the transfer portal. So I like Dan's outlook. This
09:53 could be a really good group, even though it's guys who haven't been out there a lot together.
09:56 The guards is where you don't look like you probably have much depth. I mean, you'll have,
10:01 you know, if it's Gentry, you'll have Percy at either one of the tackles. If, you know,
10:05 if they have to do, you know, have to do something there due to injury or, you know,
10:09 just to get some time in games, but the guards, I mean, you're going to have younger guys in there.
10:13 Yeah. And those first two. And Gentry has worked at guard. So then, you know, maybe,
10:17 you know, wherever your strengths are, if you want to put him inside and you get one of the
10:21 younger dudes, right. Tackle seems to be the position where if you, I don't want to say you
10:28 put your wink link there, but that's, that's kind of how it usually works. Like you don't need your
10:32 best of the best at right tackle. If you've got a right-handed quarterback, you can kind of get
10:37 away with a guy. So maybe that's, you know, they've talked about Blake Frazier and Evan link
10:41 and some of these true freshmen who have really stood up, you know, I don't know. We'll see.
10:44 But in my opinion, he's taller than your typical guard. He's like six, seven, three 25. So that's,
10:52 that'd be a big card, but they're there. Look at those big uglies, man. They're ready. That's your,
10:58 that's your group right there. I think a pre-me with the auto-generated image because he wasn't
11:04 on campus yet, but all the other guys looking to, I mean, they're just those two tackles are,
11:10 they're so big six, seven, six, eight, three. I don't know. Gentry might be North of three 25
11:16 to I'm not, I can't remember exactly how big he is, but they're, they're, they're hogs.
11:21 And then you've got the guys who do have actually some starts under their belt at the guard spots.
11:26 And then Crippen who's just bought his time behind some really, really good centers.
11:31 [inaudible]

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