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 74 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2024 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY JOHN BORTON L osing your top six offensive linemen following a national championship season would be a major gut-check for most college programs. New offensive line coach Grant Newsome waves off any hint of pity mode. He looks around the offensive line room at Schembechler Hall and sees 6-foot- 6, 340-pound fifth-year senior Myles Hinton; 6-5, 305-pound All-Big Ten grad transfer Josh Priebe; 6-4, 309-pound se- nior Greg Crippen; 6-5, 318-pound senior Giovanni El-Hadi; 6-7, 327-pound junior Andrew Gentry, and 6-8, 320-pound grad Jeff Persi, and knows without a doubt he's not staring down raw rookies. "It's not like the next group is all fresh- men or redshirt freshmen," Newsome advised. "There are a lot of guys in that room that have started games here. Jeff Persi started a game two years ago now. Gio started games for us here. There are a lot of guys — obviously Myles started games. Josh has started games elsewhere. There are a lot of starts in that room, and there are a lot of guys who have played football at a high level. Now it's going to be them on them, myself, on us as a coaching staff to find the best five and continue to develop beyond that and find the best chemistry in the room. We haven't viewed it as, 'Hey, we're starting from zero.' It's just continuing to develop the guys no differently than you would any other spring." Newsome didn't name a potential starting five coming out of spring, but a best guess might involve Hinton at left tackle, El-Hadi at left guard, Crippen at center, Priebe at right guard and Gentry or Persi at right tackle. Depth develop- ment will be a factor to watch as well, with a host of contestants vying to fill out a two-deep. Hinton started 16 games at right tackle for Stanford, from 2020-22, before trans- ferring to Michigan. He played in 14 games for the 2023 national champions, with four starts at right tackle and one at left. He's been settling in on the left side this spring and faces a golden opportunity to not only bolster Michigan's continued success but set himself up for a career in the NFL. "Any time you have a guy who looks like that and moves like that and has the ability that he does, we always say that God doesn't make too many people look like that and have that ability," Newsome cautioned. "It's kind of him putting it all together, and you saw flashes of it last year. Part of it is staying healthy. I think he's got all the ability in the world and I think he's a guy who, potential-wise, has all the ability to be the next great first-round tackle at the University of Michigan. Now it's on myself, as coaches, and on him to make that happen." P r i e b e t ra n s f e r r e d from Northwestern this pa s t o f fsea so n , a f te r garnering third-team All-Big Ten honors (coaches and media) for the Wildcats in 2023. Respected e n o u g h to b e - come a captain i n h i s se n i o r season, Priebe s t a r t e d 2 9 ga m e s a n d played in 36 o v e ra l l f o r Northwestern. He'll look to take control of the right guard spot at Michigan, although Newsome notes he'll get experience else- where as well. "I think any time you get THE NEW CREW Next Men Up Get A Chance To Make Their Mark ❱ ❱ X-FACTOR X-FACTOR Fifth-year senior MYLES HINTON (6-6, 340) has the size and stature of an NFL tackle, and he has loads of experience with 21 career starts in college football. He's had issues with injuries and lost his starting job last season, though … and even Hinton said this spring that he's tired of hearing about his potential. If he takes a big step toward realizing it this season, the Wolverines' line should be one of the nation's best once again. Senior tackle Myles Hinton started 5 games for Michigan at the begin- ning of last season and 16 times while at Stanford. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL