A Look Into Michigan's Offensive Line

The Offensive Line

Written By: @Moon33Jackie


As many have noticed, the offensive line (OL) play has been a major issue for Michigan over the years. A result of the poor OL play is that Michigan has not had a running back break 1000 yards since Fitz Toussaint in 2011. It also seemed like Devin Gardner ran for his life on a consistent basis. Then Jim Harbaugh agreed to be Michigan’s head coach. The Jim Harbaugh regime has seen quick improvements at every position group, including the offensive line. Running game coordinator Tim Drevno was a dominant force in San Francisco and turned things around quickly at Michigan. The line went from horrific to functional in no time.  The culmination seemed to be the 41-7 drubbing of #19 Florida in the Citrus Bowl.

The offensive line play kept the momentum in the first nine games of Harbaugh’s second year. The running game got better and Wilton Speight was kept upright for the most part. Near the end of the year, the line play started to regress, leading to Michigan dropping three of their last four games. Many blame the quarterback play, but the OL play ignited Speight’s below average play down the stretch.

The run game has been a key factor in Harbaugh’s first two years in Ann Arbor. In Harbaugh’s 20 wins, the team averaged 217 yards per game (YPG) on the ground.  This equaled just over 5 yard per carry (YPC), which should be the standard for a good run game.  It’s also important to note the run game averaged nearly 250 yards per game in 2016 victories.  Harbaugh’s six losses are a different story for the offensive line though.  The team averaged less than 80 YPG on the ground and under 2.4 YPC.  Harbaugh is 1-6 in games the Wolverines run for less than 100 yards.  The pass protection also struggled in the last four games.  Michigan allowed 2.5 sacks per game and lost Wilton Speight for a game due to a shoulder injury.

The OL absolutely had to improve for Michigan to be the team they could have been. Harbaugh then made a key change to the offensive staff.  Offensive Line Coach Greg Frey was added to take on some of the line’s duties.  The belief is that Frey focused on tackles and tight ends, while Drevno focused on the interior. This minor change produced major improvements in the OL play. Last year, it felt like Drevno had too many responsibilities as the Offensive Line Coach and the Run Game Coordinator. He seemed to be overworked, which seemed to cause some struggles with play calling, the running game, and even on the recruiting trail. Hopefully adding Greg Frey and Pep Hamilton will lighten the load a bit for him and improve not only the offensive line, but the entire offense.

Michigan has to replace three starters on the offensive line. However, this might be a classic case of addition by subtraction. Braden, Kalis and Magnuson all went undrafted. While returning starters Mason Cole and Ben Bredeson look like future top 3 round draft picks. Michigan has a handful of potential starters that could fill out the final three spots. RS-SR OL Patrick Kugler seems to have figured out his issues and looks like a lock as a starter. RS-SO Jon Runyan JR, a Michigan Legacy, has really come on this spring. He was the most athletic lineman in spring evaluations and may have an edge at RT. Behemoth SO Michael Onwenu seems to be the guy at RG. He’ll look to shed a few more pounds before fall camp to get to an ideal playing weight. Another option will be RS-JR OT Juwann Bushell-Beatty. His ability to play both tackle spots will help him see more time. Unfortunately, he has been working through some injuries. True FR center Cesar Ruiz is also in the mix.  He was the highest rated center coming out of high school in the last decade according to 247-sports composite rankings.  Whatever combination Harbaugh chooses should be an upgrade from last year. 

My prediction for the 2017 Offensive Line ,from left tackle to right tackle, is Cole-Bredeson-Kugler-Onwenu-Runyan. What are your thoughts?