Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has seen intense focus from the offensive line, which will have three new starters.
Ann Arbor — Building chemistry along an offensive line is a key ingredient to any successful football team, and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has seen intense focus from this group.
Harbaugh made clear he and his staff feel good about the starting five, although he did not share the names on Monday during his game-week news conference in advance of Saturday’s season opener against No. 17 Florida in Arlington, Texas.
There will be three new starters on the line for No. 11 Michigan, presumably Patrick Kugler, a fifth-year senior, at center, Mike Onwenu at right guard and either Jon Runyan or Juwann Bushell-Beatty at right tackle. They will join veteran Mason Cole, a four-year starter who will return to left tackle after spending last season at center, and Ben Bredeson, who finished last season as the starting left guard.
“Their physicality has grown,” Harbaugh said. “The athleticism is very good. As we’ve gone, the amount of mental mistakes and mental error have been reducing by the practice. They’re a locked-in group. It’s a more focused group, and that’s been improving as well.
Leading that group is Cole, voted by his teammates a co-captain along with Mike McCray. He took charge in the summer, holding what the lineman called “offensive linemen school,” where they’d meet and watch film, along with the typical summer workouts.
During Tuesday’s Big Ten call, Harbaugh raved about Cole’s character.
During the offseason, Cole reminded the linemen and his teammates how close the Wolverines came to achieving tremendous success last season. They lost three of their last four games by five points.
Cole knows that the offensive line was not playing with peak performance late in games in losses to Iowa and Ohio State.
There’s plenty of youth and inexperience in the offensive line position group, but Cole said they all responded during camp.
While it’s a position group that will be watched closely in the opener, along with the all-new defensive secondary, Cole feels good about where his group is.