The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/526035
THE WOLVERINE 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 85 OFFENSIVE LINE BY CHRIS BALAS I n the last seven years of Michigan football futility (with the ex- ception of an 11-2 season in 2011), the offensive line has received its share of criticism. There have been the occasional bright spots — an All-American in left tackle Taylor Lewan (2012-13), a Riming- ton Award winner as the nation's best center in David Molk (2011), and high NFL Draft picks in bookend tackles Lewan and Michael Schofield (first and third round, respectively, in 2014) — but as a unit Michigan hasn't been the Michigan of old up front since 2007. New offensive coordinator and line coach Tim Drevno's job as head coach Jim Harbaugh's right hand man on offense is to rectify that, and as quickly as possible. U-M recruited the position well on paper over the last four years, and five starters return from a group that seems to have plenty of potential. Finding how the pieces fit together is Drevno's chore, and he spent a good portion of the spring experimenting. The line looked different during the April 4 spring game than it did for many of the previous 14 spring practices, with sophomore Mason Cole (6-5, 287) at left tackle, redshirt junior Ben Braden (6-6, 331) at left guard, fifth-year senior Graham Glasgow (6-6, 303) at center, redshirt junior Kyle Kalis (6-5, 292) at right guard and redshirt junior Erik Magnuson (6-6, 296) at right tackle. There's no guarantee that's how it will look in the fall, Drevno said. Not even close. "Yeah, they were the five starters, but it's still open competition," Drevno said. "Nothing is ever shut down in terms of a starting five. Every day they'll come out to compete to see who the best is, and guys progress at different times. There are a lot of guys right now who ran with the first team or second team or vice versa, but when they come back for training camp, every day we'll evaluate the roster and see what's best for us to be successful." Three in particular have been pushing for playing time, he added. "[Redshirt junior guard/center] Blake Bars [6-5, 281] has done a nice job, and [redshirt freshman tackle] Juwann Bushell-Beatty [6- 6, 319] has done well in there," Drevno said. "[Redshirt sophomore guard] David Dawson [6-4, 309] was injured a bit in spring, but he's A HANDFUL AND CHANGE Coach Tim Drevno Needs More Than Five Guys On The O-Line Fifth-year senior Graham Glasgow (No. 61) has made 24 career starts on the offensive line, and he looks poised to take over at center now that Jack Miller (No. 60) has decided not to return for his fi nal season. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN