The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543210
20 THE WOLVERINE ❱ MARCH 2026 ❱ MICHIGAN FOOTBALL U-M RETAINS PAIR OF STARTING OFFENSIVE LINEMEN New Michigan offensive line coach Jim Harding got right to work follow- ing Utah's win over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on New Year's Eve. The next day, he agreed to join Kyle Whit- tingham's staff in Ann Arbor, following him from Utah and marking his return to the Midwest. Harding is a Maumee, Ohio, native, and his wife's family is from Farmington Hills, Mich. As Whittingham stated at his intro- ductory press conference, roster reten- tion was job No. 1. That was especially important along the offensive line, where Michigan was close to losing a pair of junior starters — guard/cen- ter Jake Guarnera and tackle Andrew Sprague — to the NCAA transfer portal. Quickly, both Guarnera and Sprague generated a lot of interest from other national powers, but both left the door open for a potential return to Michigan and decided to give the new staff an opportunity to win them over. "The way that college football is set up, I don't blame those two for going in at all," Harding said on the "Stadium & Main" podcast. "Actually, Jake's dad flew up and met with me, and Andrew's parents flew over to sit down and meet. What I do appreciate is that they gave me an opportunity to kind of sell my vision, almost like a situation where I'm recruiting them like they were back in high school, where, hey, here's what I'm all about." Harding has a lot to sell. He's spent the last 17 seasons as an offensive line coach at the FBS level, including the previous 12 under Whittingham at Utah. He's sent 13 offensive linemen to the NFL, including six draft picks, highlighted by 2017 first-round selec- tion Garett Bolles (20th overall, Denver Broncos), the highest-drafted offen- sive lineman in Utah history. Last sea- son, meanwhile, Harding coached two of the top five offensive line prospects in the draft in 2026, per Pro Football Focus, in Spencer Fano (No. 1) and Ca- leb Lomu (No. 5). Ultimately, Guarnera and Sprague both decided to stay in Ann Arbor. "The big message to them was, I'm saying a lot of things right now, but I had to — and I am still in the process of convincing them — that everything that I'm saying is going to be backed up with my actions and more," Hard- ing said. "It's not just, 'Hey, let's get you out of the portal and everything's good.' There's a commitment on my end to make sure that I'm doing my part, because that room — not just those two — has a lot of really talented kids. "My impression of them right now is they want to be great, they want to be pushed — and it's my job to make sure that I do that. Rising junior offensive line starters Andrew Sprague (54) and Jake Guarnera (not pictured) entered the portal but both players elected to return to the team and anchor the line in front of sophomore QB Bryce Underwood (19) in 2026. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL