One of the best things that happened for Michigan football after Kyle Whittingham was hired as the head coach was that he brought Jim Harding with him to coach the offensive line.
On a staff that was loaded with elite hires, such as defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who was hired away from BYU, or Jason Beck, who followed Whittingham from Utah, Harding is one of the most important.
Outside of the coordinators, the offensive and defensive line coaches are the most important, and in Harding, Michigan football has one of the best in the business.
That's a great coach to pair with an offensive line room loaded with potential and experience. Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Blake Fraizer, and Evan Link, have each spent at least half a season as a full-time starter.
Nathan Efobi, Andrew Babalola and others could be in the mix to start this season. Avery Gach is a name to know, too..
Spring football gets underway soon for the Wovlerines. Looking ahead, Harding joined the "Inside the Trenches" podcast and talked about plenty of things. The big takeaway were three clear goals for the spring.
Michigan football O-line goals for spring
"I’d like to establish the starting five where you feel good that when you go into fall camp, those are the guys that are working together immediately from day one. Now we do have a couple guys out that may factor into that, you know, starting five, but we had typically traveled 11. So you’re looking for those top five. We do play 6 o-linemen quite a bit, and so we call that guy the rhino. You’re looking for one or two of those guys. Depth at the center position, the only guy that’s snapped in a game so far has been Jake, so we’ve got to have some depth there," Harding said.
Harding said he wants to have the starting five established. He also recognizes that there isn't a backup center now, so that's another objective. Michigan's new offensive line coach said he wants to use an extra offensive lineman, "Quite a bit," and wants to have that role decided, too.
Some players like Babalola are going to be limited this spring. He might not be available at all until the fall, depending on his recovery, but outside of Bryce Underwood, the development and dominance of the offensive line will be the most important factor in the success of the offense.
Wth Jim Harding it is in good hands.