New Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham hasn't been shy, calling offensive line coach Jim Harding the best in the country. Harding has been with Whittingham at Utah for nearly a decade and a half, and Whittingham said at Big Ten media days that it was a prerequisite for him to take the job in Ann Arbor that Harding would follow.
With that, the line is starting to round into form in fall camp, with a few position battles still raging.
At the moment, two positions are essentially cemented: center Jake Guarnera and right tackle Andrew Sprague. On Thursday, Sprague shared his assessment of the other three positions along the offensive line, noting that the battles are heating up as camp rages on.
"They've been pretty intense. Everybody, I
mean -- they all want it so bad. That's why they came here -- to start," Sprague said. "None of those guys came here to sit on the bench and lose a position battle. So, I mean, everybody's competing, Link, Efobi, Babalola, Blake, Brady -- everybody just competing their (expletive deleted) off and trying to win the job."
Despite having so many positions uncemented during fall camp, there's a sense that things are going much better than they were the past two years under the previous regime. Sprague says it's been a different feeling this fall camp, and he shared exactly why it's been different.
"I would say so, yeah," Sprague said. "I feel like, honestly, we have a lot more confidence as an O-line. And we really don't have -- like last year we'd have bad days at practice. And I haven't felt a bad day at practice yet."
So, what has been the difference? Instead of a bunch of second-year players with little-to-no experience, this group is more seasoned, with players like Sprague, Blake Frazier, Jake Guarnera, and Nathan Efobi having gotten a lot of snaps last year. Additionally, strength and conditioning -- under Doug Elisaia -- has helped improve the performance of the whole team, and the offensive line is certainly feeling the results.
"I think probably a combination of everything: us being older, us being a lot stronger in the weight room," Sprague said. "Honestly, that's probably been the biggest thing is just how Coach E's transformed our bodies and just got us in great shape, a lot more lean, a lot more muscle."
Michigan is continuing to work in fall camp with eyes on the September 5 season opener against Western Michigan at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan offensive line finds new confidence in camp
