ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Last season, the Michigan football offensive line wasn't exactly a weakness, but it wasn't exactly a strength, either. Even still, it was the one position group where you could see improvement from Week 1 to Week 12 last year.
Now, with Kyle Whittingham leading the team, he hopes to take them to another level yet.
Whittingham has been open that the strength of the team has been on the defensive side of the ball, but the offensive line would also be the engine that would make both the run game and the pass game go. And with multiple players to choose a starting five from, Whittingham feels like he has a good group that the Wolverines can win with.
"Yes, we do. We feel good about them," Whittingham said. "We feel good about the whole
front, for that matter. They've made a lot of progress.
"Jim Harding is a proven commodity as an offensive line coach. He puts together a quality offensive line year in, year out. You won't get the full effect of him for another couple years when he continues to groom these guys and build them and recruit them. We feel very confident that they're going to be able to be a solid group in the Big Ten. It's led by Jake Guarnera, our center. He's kind of the leader of that group.
"I'm looking forward to watching them play. I think right now we've got nine guys that we feel are able to step in a game in any situation and play at a high level."
So who will be the starting five? Whittingham didn't exactly want to share more on that, minus the fact that offensive tackle Andrew Babalola (who is anticipated to be the 'rhino,' or sixth man) will be out this week. As far as sharing where players stand on the depth chart, the only player that Whittingham was willing to name was Tommy Carr, having won the No. 2 QB spot ahead of transfer Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi.
"No, we're going to keep that depth chart to ourselves. Except for Tommy Carr, you know he's the backup (quarterback)."
Fans will get to see the new-look offensive line on Saturday when the Wolverines host Western Michigan at The Big House. The expected starting line is LT Blake Frazier, LG Evan Link, C Jake Guarnera, RG Nathan Efobi, and RT Andrew Sprague.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham confident in Michigan football offensive line
