ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Not many are giving much credence to the Michigan football offensive line improving year over year given how much it struggled a year ago, but you get better at football by playing football, and there are a handful of Wolverines who have played a lot of football.
For much of 2024, first-year starter Evan Link struggled mightily, despite much of what was said in press conference settings throughout the season. But Link finally came into his own late in the season, starring at right tackle against Northwestern and Ohio State and left tackle against Alabama.
Offensive line coach Grant Newsome has been impressed with Link's progress, starting with the final two games of the 2024 season and now into spring ball as he prepares for the 2025 season.
"It was definitely encouraging to see. That's the way we saw it, too," Newsome said. "He played his two best games down the stretch. And that's always what you hope for with any guy, that you play your best when your best is needed. And that was definitely the case with him, especially to rebound after having some struggles early in the year and a few kind of up and down games. To see him really kind of take that challenge and play his best down the stretch was awesome to see. And he's continued that in the spring. And now it's just for us to say, how can we find the best five on the field? And whether that's mixing up positions or just who are the best five that can help us win games."
Link aside, the Wolverines are likely to return two starters from a year ago in center Greg Crippen and guard Giovanni El-Hadi. Though Newsome is noncomittal to disclosing if El-Hadi is playing at left or right guard, he's excited about the progress of both through spring ball.
"The thing that's interesting is we go, you have a little bit younger of a group and then you do have two older guys who played a lot of football -- Greg Crippen and Gio," Newsome said. "We were looking at the other day, I mean, Gio's played over 1,000 snaps of college football. You go back and look at their games in 2022, he started multiple games that year. So it is sometimes easy to forget because you have the Keegans and the Zinters who were such kind of established starters, just how much ball those two have played. So I've been happy and encouraged to see those two take on that leadership role."
Though not one of the more experienced players in terms of on-field play, former four-star OL Nathan Efobi is entering his third year and is pushing for a starting job in his own right. Though thought to be a tackle coming out of high school, Efobi appears to be working on the inside, perhaps filling the role left behind by Josh Priebe, who graduated this past season.
Knowing that it's something of a now-or-never situation for Efobi, Newsome is encouraged by the progress he's made this spring.
"He's had a really good spring so far," Newsome said. "A really, really solid spring. And we've been very encouraged to see him kind of push to take that next step because that was a challenge for him of, hey, you're no longer that young guy who's just a freshman or a redshirt freshman. Take that next step and go compete. Put yourself in the mix for the starting lineup. And he's done that so far this spring."
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football OL improving with veteran presence in spring ball
