Michigan Football: 3 position battles to watch on offense this spring

Right tackle/offensive line

The offensive line is never talked about enough. That’s not specific to Michigan football, that’s just a general truth and last season, Michigan’s offensive line was vital to its success.

It was a thing of beauty the way the Wolverines ran over opponents (especially Ohio State) and won a Big Ten championship playing what many would call old-school football, even though there were plenty of elements in the offense that weren’t old-fashioned.

Michigan is losing a pair of starters from its offensive line going into 2022 in center Andrew Vastardis and also right tackle Andrew Stueber.

The Wolverines have brought in a transfer, Olu Oluwatimi, to take over at center, but the right tackle job is the subject of another fierce position battle this spring according to Chris Balas of The Wolverine between Trente Jones and Karsen Barnhart.

Both guys were highly touted recruits. Jones is going to be a big-time player at tackle and it’s only a matter of time before he earns a full-time starting role. Heck, you can’t rule out Jones even making a run at the left tackle job held by Ryan Hayes — that’s how good he is.

But Barnhart is good too and he’s experienced. He’s also played both tackle and guard, so he’s got some versatility and it’s possible he could push Trevor Keegan for a job at guard too.

The bottom line is that the Wolverines have at least seven guys they can feel good about starting and that’s a solid place to start with the offensive line.

We’ll tackle defensive position battles on Saturday.