Michigan offensive line competition still ongoing as group works to become ‘unbeatable’

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore has a famous one-word motto: “smash.” He started proclaiming it while coaching the Wolverines’ offensive line in 2021, and it quickly became a rally cry for the o-line before spreading throughout the team.

This year’s O-line room has undergone intense competition to replace all five starters from last season, who are all now in NFL training camps, and it came up with a word of its own: “invictus.” Fifth-year offensive lineman Myles Hinton first proposed the word only to be met with a confused reaction.

“None of us knew what that meant at the time,” senior offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi said Monday. “And then he told us a little bit about the word, being unconquerable, unbeatable. And I feel like that’s what we are.”

“Invictus” is less of a rally cry and more of a state of being. The O-line wants to dominate the trenches and uphold the high standard set in the last few years. 

Having to replace so much talent and experience all at once is daunting, but Michigan is confident the competition will deliver the five best players on Saturdays. And even the guys who ultimately come in sixth and seventh and so on showed enough in camp to give the Wolverines confidence in their depth.

“We’re building our own identity,” El-Hadi said. “We have to uphold the standard. We don’t need five guys to play. We need 10. And we all have to be on the same page, we all have to be ready whenever our name is called up, because people are going to get hurt. That’s how it goes. It’s football, and whoever’s up next, you got to go out there and play well. And so we’re holding that standard, building our name.”

The competition is still too close to call for some positions, namely right tackle and center. Moore noted that senior Greg Crippen and senior Dominick Giuidice have been the main two vying to start at center and that junior Andrew Gentry and sophomore Evan Link are duking it out at right tackle. Crippen and Gentry were the presumed leaders for the spots, but considering starters have yet to be named, it seems Giudice and Link are putting up quite the fight.

“From a knowledge of the playbook standpoint and knowing what to do and how to do it, both have the talent, both have the ability,” Moore said Monday of Giudice and Link.

Even after the starters are named, whichever offensive linemen end up riding the bench will still have weeks of intense competition under their belts. They will be able to help sustain Michigan through the wear and tear of the season because invictus applies to the entire O-line room, not just the starting five. Each player contributes to the unit being unbeatable by pushing each other in practice and always staying game-ready.

Invictus may be the shiny new descriptor, but the o-line hasn’t forgotten the rally cry that got it this far.

“Trust me, we still smash,” El-Hadi said. “We still say the word ‘smash,’ but (invictus) just kind of defines who we are as a position group.”

Both smash and invictus promote the same goal: winning. The Wolverines have to be aggressive to command the trenches — they have to smash — and they hope that leads to them becoming unbeatable — invictus.

The post Michigan offensive line competition still ongoing as group works to become ‘unbeatable’ appeared first on The Michigan Daily.


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