Michigan Football Waits for Top 5 O-Linemen to Separate — Position Switches Underway?

Jim Harding spoke about how he intends to find the best five linemen for Saturdays.

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Michigan wrapped up Day 2 of fall camp on Thursday and one of the bigger focal points, aside from quarterback Bryce Underwood, on the offensive side of the football is along the offensive line. The Wolverines lost two starters along the line from a season ago, but Michigan has a chance to have a really stout line this season.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham brought Utah's offensive line coach Jim Harding over, and Harding is known as one of the best line coaches in America.

Michigan won the Joe Moore Award in both 2021 and 2022 for having the nation's best offensive line, and the Wolverines' line was pretty darn good in 2023 as well. However, Michigan's line play clearly took a step back in the past two seasons and now it's up to Harding to find out who his top five players are.

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

On Thursday, Harding met with the media and spoke about finding those five linemen. And he made it clear he's not against having players switch positions if needed — he just wants his most talented linemen on the field together.

"Yeah, right now, just finishing practice to the lineup — if you were to be at both practices, was not the same lineup [on Day 2] when the 1st group went out, as it was on Day 1, but we had this after this morning," Harding said. "I told the players afterwards, my job is to try to find the best five players, and whether that's the most talented or that chemistry piece, those five guys that give us the best opportunity to be successful on Saturday.

"And if that means, you know, a guy having to play a position that he hasn't played before or even since high school, so be it, and my comment to them, and that certainly helps us at the University of Michigan."

Harding's timeline

Michigan will continue to ramp up heading toward Week 1 against Western Michigan, but Harding would love to see his line take shape well ahead of that game. In fact, he would like to see his top five cement themselves at least two weeks ahead of the WMU game.

"So approximately two weeks out, you'd love to have that solidified, and maybe there's a competition, and, maybe guys end up rotating, but you'd like to have that five close to cemented as possible," said Harding

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Harding noted that both Jake Guarnera and Andrew Sprague have stood out thus far, and both of them are essentially locked into a starting role, but there are open competitions all across the line.

The Wolverines not only want to find their most talented players, but Michigan needs to find the best five to help Bryce Underwood continue to progress after a 2025 season in which he was under duress way too often.

As fall camp continues, this will be a group to closely monitor.