Michigan’s new offensive line coach Jim Harding is no stranger to the Midwest, having grown up in northern Ohio.
“For me, growing up, college football was three teams: It was the team down south (Ohio State), it was here (Michigan), and it was Notre Dame,” Harding told reporters on Thursday.
As such, he’s likely well acclimated to the physicality and strong trench play that have characterized those programs and football in the region over the decades. After bringing a taste of that to Utah, he returns
close to home to Michigan, tasked with getting the Wolverine offensive line back to its usual standard.
In coming to Michigan, Harding will be working with a brand-new group of players, but one that has some experience working together. The Wolverines brought back six offensive linemen that started games in 2025. The team rolled with a few different combinations last season, but never really found something that looked to be truly great.
During fall camp, Michigan will try to continue that experimentation in the hopes it can find something that sets the tone for the offense. And according to Harding, that could mean getting guys a little outside of their comfort zone and trying positions they might not play regularly or at least haven’t in a while. Versatility is the name of the game.
“For us it’s all about finding the best five guys to help us be successful on Saturdays,” Harding said.
Guys hoping to be part of that “best five” include Evan Link and Brady Norton, players with some inside-out versatility. Link got his start at tackle in 2024, but struggled and ultimately ended up shifting to guard. It was there that he showed some more promise and likely found his long-term home. Norton also shifted inside when he came to Michigan in 2025 after primarily playing tackle at Cal Poly. Harding, though, mentioned he hopes to keep Norton in the tackle mix despite many of his reps at Michigan being at guard.
Blake Frazier, a candidate to start at tackle, was also mentioned as someone who could “potentially” move inside to guard, although it hasn’t been something the team has tried yet.
Someone who might not have to be so concerned with their versatility at this point is Andrew Sprague, who appears to be settled in at right tackle. Sprague started every game there last season, impressing enough to earn All-Big Ten honorable mentions.
At this stage, Harding said the right tackle job is Sprague’s “to lose,” while also saying that despite being settled into a spot, there’s still some room for him to grow in the leadership department in an effort to help the group gel over the next few weeks.
“I think (Sprague)’s put himself in a position where my expectation is ‘You’re pretty locked in with what you’re doing. Now I need you to be a little bit more vocal, and we need to build this chemistry,’” Harding said.
Although one spot appears to be settled with Sprague and another with Jake Guarnera at center, there’s still a bit more time for the other candidates to try and secure a starting job. Harding hopes to have the starting five “as close to cemented as possible” about two weeks before the season begins. That gives plenty of time for someone like Andrew Babalola to continue working back to full strength.
Harding said that Babalola is someone who’s in the mix to be one of the starters and has been a full participant in the opening days of fall camp. There’s no doubt, though, that Babalola, while plenty talented, is still getting his legs under him after spending the better part of a year recovering from a knee injury suffered last fall camp.
Regardless of how it shakes out, Michigan is in great hands with Harding in charge of the offensive line, someone with almost 20 years of experience coaching the position. Now coaching what’s likely one of the more talented groups he’s overseen, it’s all a matter of finding the right combination to get the most out of the available personnel in the hopes of meeting a standard that’s been high for decades and making Michigan’s offensive line look like it’s straight out of the good old days.
