Much of the talk about Michigan football has been centered on freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood. But if he's going to have success, he'll need the Wolverines to have a better offensive line than they did last season.
Some of that improvement will come from newly-acquired talent. Five-star Andrew Babalola is one name that comes to mind, as he's been battling to take over as the Wolverines left tackle.
Lawrence Hattar and Brady Norton are transfers who have added to the depth and competition, along with Ty Haywood, another highly-touted freshman who was ranked among the top 50 overall prospects in the 2025 recruiting class.
The offensive line didn't meet the standard last season set by Sherrone Moore when he was coaching the offensive line, so that's been a key focus this offseason. So far, the returns have been good, according to Michigan football color analyst Jon Jansen, a former U-M offensive lineman.
Michigan football still "sorting out" the offensive line
“Still sorting things out up front. A lot of combinations up front. And one of the things that you’re gonna hear from Giovanni El-Hadi [graduate left guard] [in his interview on ‘In The Trenches’] is about Lawrence Hattar, how big of a dude he is, and how much he eats.
“But I like what I’m seeing from all of these guys that are out there. The competition is fierce," Jansen said via the Wolverine.
Hattar is battling Nathan Efobi for the starting job at right guard. Greg Crippen (center), El-Hadi (left guard), and Andrew Sprague (right tackle), have solidified starting jobs. The other job that's still to be determined is left tackle.
Evan Link has moved to the left side to compete with Babalola for the starting job. Link struggled last season, but Jansen had positive things to say about him in fall camp.
“Evan Link has done a really nice job, like we saw in the bowl game, going from right tackle to left tackle. I think his natural position is guard, but he is doing a tremendous job of holding down the fort and putting his best foot forward to be that left tackle," Jansen said to the Wolverine.