New faces on Michigan football OL ready to carry torch: 'We have a standard over here'

It is a rare day indeed when the offensive linemen grab the headlines, but if ever there were a time they should, it's perhaps this Michigan football team.

See, the Wolverines unit has set the standard across the nation for three years in a row. It was named the Joe Moore Award winner as the best offensive line in the country both in 2021 and 2022 (the first repeat winner of the award) and was a finalist last season when U-M had perhaps its best season in program history, going an unblemished 15-0 en route to the team's third consecutive Big Ten title and its first national championship in a quarter of a century.

But the reason the O-line on Team 145 is particularly relevant is because not one of the starters from last year's group remains in the room.

Gone are fifth-year senior guards Zak Zinter (Clevland Browns) and Trevor Keegan (Philadelphia Eagles); same with senior tackles Karsen Barnhart (Los Angeles Chargers) and LaDarius Henderson (Houston Texans), graduate center Drake Nugent (San Francisco 49ers) and swing tackle Trente Jones (signed with Packers, retired).

Even their former position coach of the past three years, Sherrone Moore, has left the room to take over the head job. However, with less than three weeks to go before the season opener, the tone has become clear. Just because there's new faces in the room does not mean there's a new standard.

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"Michigan is one of the best places out here. One of the best O-line coaches — we had Coach Moore, now Coach Newsome, one of the best O-line coaches," said senior guard Gio El-Hadi. "I trust in the process. That's what it's about. We have a standard over here. We have to [uphold] that standard every day."

El-Hadi, a Sterling Heights Stevenson graduate, detailed last week the trials and tribulations of waiting his turn for years behind Zinter and Keegan. He debated transferring and said he certainly had "opportunities" to do so, but then he prayed over it and gave it another thought.

His conclusion: Practice had been harder than games and at long last, the people who had won the starting job over him were gone. Also, it wasn't not like he never played. On the contrary, El-Hadi has played in 30 games, including 20 on the offensive line and even got three starts in 2022 when Keegan battled through injury.

Sure, he could've left. But instead, he chose to stay and do his part in continuing a tradition of excellence.

“I want to be a leader for the O-line," El-Hadi said. "I'm giving it my all every day. I trusted the process this long. I trusted in God this long. It's my time. I'm going out there to dominate, be one of those dogs."

Though Moore likes to say the depth chart is "fluid," El-Hadi is about as close to locked in as the starting right guard as there is. Opposite him, at left guard, is the lone addition to this year's line, former All-Big Ten honorable mention from Northwestern, Josh Priebe.

The 6-foot-5, 305-pound interior lineman is without question the most experienced player in the room with 36 games and 29 starts under his belt. On Monday, he explained that his No. 1 job in the spring was learning the playbook so he could go onto the field and operate without thinking. Once that happened, it was about buying into the system; something he found is not too difficult to do given their recent track record.

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"The camaraderie and closeness of the group is impressive," Priebe said. "That's something really important for offensive line play, because you have to play five as one … Everybody is dedicated to the craft, putting in extra work whatever's necessary. Just a phenomenal culture to be a part of."

“On the field, we trust in each other. That’s what it’s about. You have to build that chemistry to be a great O-line. You need chemistry to be a great O-line.”

That's certainly happened with El-Hadi, who said he in particular appreciated how Priebe approached the room and his role in general, "not just coming here and teaching us certain things, but he’s also being a leader."

With Myles Hinton locked in at left tackle, perhaps the primary position of competition on the line is at center, between Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson, though Dominick Giudice has reportedly been competitively rotating at all three interior positions.

The duo, like El-Hadi, have waited their turn for years after U-M brought in transfers the past two seasons like Rimington Trophy and Outland Award winner Olusegun Oluwatimi (2022) and Nugent (2023) to fill the role.

It's unclear who is ahead in that battle based on answers (although an educated guess would be that Crippen is the leader in the clubhouse), however, someone who rotates next to both of them in practice gave a promising response.

"What I've noticed, regardless of who's in there, there's never been any drop off," Priebe said. "Never been any real difference or feel on double teams or passing stuff off. Like, communications been great and I certainly whole-heartedly trust whatever decision coach Newsome makes, with regards to center or any other position."

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The right tackle battle between the 6-foot-7, 325-pound junior Andrew Gentry and 6-foot-8, 310-pound graduate Jeff Persi (both graduated high school in 2020, Gentry took a two-year mission), also looks like a fight still too soon to call.

Though everybody involved is itching to win their respective battle, those who've been around the O-line long enough know that depth is essential and everybody will need to stay ready.

"Honestly, we have competitions all throughout the O-line," El-Hadi said. "But at the end of the day, we know we have that standard. We need 10 offensive linemen, we don't need five. We need 10."