The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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[ O F F E N S I V E L I N E ] 78 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2022 FOOTBALL PREVIEW guys through with Chuck Filiaga last year, so you could see them getting plenty of meaningful snaps through the year as well. "I don't think they're going to parade five guys out there in the opener and just lock it in until they are in Columbus. I would expect that Barnhart and Crippen and others might get some run early in games as well." Others who will be battling for time include junior Reece Atteberry, and sopho- mores Tristan Bounds and Giovanni El- Hadi. EXPERIENCE WITH AN EDGE Not only will the majority of Michigan's starting offensive linemen bring with them the experience of muscling Ohio State's defensive front and winning "The Game," they also know the attitudinal edge it takes to pull it off. Zinter predicted a win over Ohio State in last year's The Wolverine football preview issue. It didn't draw national attention at the time, in part because many were still saying the Wolverines would be fortunate to finish .500 heading into the season. Zinter and a host of others — led by Aidan Hutchinson — saw their season much differently, even before it began to play out. When it came to knocking back the Buckeyes, they did so, again and again. The attitude oozed out when an OSU defender ripped the helmet off wideout Roman Wilson at one point. Keegan and Andrew Stueber were two Wolverines who backed the Buckeyes off, without getting flagged. Message sent — we're not getting shoved around this time. "You'd better have it," Karsch said. "You have to be able to play with some nasty. If there's one thing I've learned working with [former U-M All-American] Jon Jansen all these years, it's that nice guys don't win in there. You have to be nasty. "I was told from Day 1 that Zinter had that nasty, and I was also told there were guys that could be great but didn't have that nasty. "They're no longer with the program. It's almost a requirement to be good there." Strong coaching helps good players be- come great quicker. Moore's accomplish- ment in raising the offensive line's level of play has not gone unnoticed. In Year 1 of his custodianship of the big uglies, beautiful results flowed. "From my experience on the sidelines, I am not accustomed to an offensive line coach also being a pump-up guy," Karsch offered. "To be a strategist, a tactician, really good with the chalk board, but then also … "That group danced. They'd play the 'Pump It Up' song after the first touch- down of every game, and then they played it after every touchdown against Ohio State. That started in practice, and it just became their rallying cry. "They loved it, and they assumed his U-M's offensive line won the Joe Moore Award in 2021, given each sea- son to the top OL group in the nation. The award has been handed out each year since 2015 and the Wolverines are the second Big Ten team to receive the honor (Iowa, 2016). All five starters on the line earned honors from the Big Ten with four of five starters grabbing first- or second-team All-Big Ten honors. The offensive line helped generate 6,203 total yards in 2021, which was the second-highest mark for a single season in program history. U-M averaged 443 yards per game, which ranked 25th nationally and third in the Big Ten. The Wolverines also averaged 5.2 yards per carry and finished third in the FBS with 39 rushing touchdowns a year ago. The Wolverines also allowed the fewest tackles for loss per game in the country (2.43) and the fifth-fewest sacks (1.0). Graduate transfer center Olu Oluwatimi headlines the new additions in 2022, joining the Wolverines after making 32 starts over three years at Virginia. He was a Rimington Trophy finalist in 2021 and graded as Pro Football Focus' No. 2 center in the nation in run blocking. PFF also sees Oluwatimi (80.0 overall grade, 14th in nation) as an upgrade over depart- ing starter Andrew Vastardis (75.9, 32nd) based on their 2021 seasons. According to PFF data, senior Trente Jones is actually the returning U-M lineman with the highest grade as both a run blocker (74.2) and pass blocker (75.7), although that's based on a smaller sample size (108 snaps) than the returning starters. For context, graduate student Ryan Hayes led the team with 928 snaps played at left tackle last season. Michigan added a pair of freshman offensive linemen to the roster in the 2022 recruiting class in offensive tackles Connor Jones and Alessandro Lorenzetti. Jones was an early enrollee and participated with the team during spring camp. [ F Y I ] U-M LINEMEN DRAFTED INTO THE NFL UNDER JIM HARBAUGH Year Player Position Team Round Pick 2016 Graham Glasgow C Detroit Lions 3rd 95th 2018 Mason Cole T Arizona Cardinals 3rd 97th 2020 Cesar Ruiz C New Orleans 1st 24th 2020 Ben Bredeson G Baltimore Ravens 4th 143rd 2020 Michael Onwenu G New England Patriots 6th 182nd 2020 Jon Runyan Jr. G Green Bay Packers 6th 192nd 2021 Jalen Mayfield T Atlanta Falcons 3rd 68th 2022 Andrew Stueber G New England Patriots 7th 245th X-FACTOR X-FACTOR The runner-up of the battle between seniors TRENTE JONES and KARSEN BARNHART should still have a big role on U-M's offen- sive line. In this scenario, we will call it in favor of Jones. Barn- hart brings 17 career games of contributions, receiving time at both left tackle (4 starts) and left guard (2). Even with how well last season went, there were still injuries during portions of the season. Barnhart's presence gives them a swing player who can contribute at both tackle and guard.