Michigan football is a full week into fall camp now, and the Wolverines are looking to figure out who will see the field on the first snap, in the first drive, and in the first game of Week 1's season opener against Western Michigan at The Big House.
Now that we've had several media availabilities and have heard a bit from the coaching staff as well as players, we're starting to get an idea of who is standing out and what the team may look like. With still nearly a month remaining until that season opener, things could change in a hurry. On Monday, head coach Kyle Whittingham said they'll have a pretty good idea of what the starting lineup will look like in about a week.
"Probably about practice 10," Whittingham said. "When you get about 10 practices
under your belt, that's about the time when you really start to make some definitive decisions on who you're going to sink your reps into and what the two-deep is most likely going to look like, so what? Another week or so."
Even so, here is our projection for who will likely start on offense in Week 1, if Week 1 were today.
Projected starters:
- QB: Bryce Underwood*
- RB: Jordan Marshall*
- LT: Blake Frazier
- LG: Evan Link
- C: Jake Guarnera*
- RG: Nathan Efobi
- RT: Andrew Sprague*
- WR1: Andrew Marsh*
- WR2: JJ Buchanan*
- WR3: Salesi Moa
- TE: Zack Marshall
(* denotes essentially locked in, or already stated as a starter)
With that, given that Bryce Underwood, Jordan Marshall, Jake Guarnera, Andrew Sprague, Andrew Marsh, and JJ Buchanan are either locked in or as close as can be to being locked in, there are six entrenched starters and five open positions. Let's look at the challengers to the aforementioned who are still in positional battles.
Challengers:
- LT: Andrew Babalola and Evan Link
- LG: Avery Gach
- RG: Brady Norton
- WR3: Jaime Ffrench, Channing Goodwin
- TE: Hogan Hansen, Deakon Tonielli
If we were to guess at left tackle, Babalola will be optioned as the 'rhino,' or the sixth offensive lineman (Utah reportedly had 400-plus snaps with the rhino OL), while Link will get the nod inside at left guard. It would not be surprising to see either Gach or Norton end up winning one or the other guard spots, though Norton has been cross-training outside, as well as inside.
Wide receiver is perhaps more open, with Kyle Whittingham having noted that Ffrench has come on strong in the past week. Goodwin was a darling of fall camp last year, but struggled in games. He's finally healthy after having been precluded from spring ball with injuries, and is starting to make an impression. Freshman Travis Johnson could also be in the mix, as could senior Kendrick Bell.
At tight end, we had long projected Hansen to win the role, but Marshall may have the inside track. Regardless, Marshall, Hansen, and Tonielli will all rotate, while true freshman Mason Bonner very well could see the field early and often.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Who would start on the Michigan football offense if Week 1 were today?
