Near the end of a lengthy response about early standouts in fall camp, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore made sure to highlight the new staff entrusted with rebuilding the Wolverines’ offensive line — a unit that had been the foundation of Jim Harbaugh’s late-era success, capped by the 2023 national championship.
Moore first praised second-year offensive line coach Grant Newsome, once his protégé as a student and graduate assistant before leading the tight ends room. Newsome, a promising former Michigan tackle who retired in 2016 after a devastating leg injury, was the natural successor once Moore took over following Harbaugh’s departure to the NFL. His promotion seemed like the inevitable next step in a coaching career that Harbaugh had long described as meteoric.
Moore then credited the rest of the offensive line staff for driving improvement since last year’s uneven 8–5 campaign. He mentioned assistant line coaches Nick Gilbert and John Morookian, both entering their second seasons in Ann Arbor, and senior assistant Juan Castillo, a longtime NFL veteran who spent last year at UCLA. “They’ve invested a lot of time in that group,” Moore said on Aug. 12. “They know the vision, and they’ve worked really, really hard.”
What Moore left unsaid was that the changes — and added manpower — stemmed from how far Michigan’s offensive line slipped in 2024. The Wolverines ranked just 73rd nationally in rushing (157.2 yards per game), allowed 66 tackles for loss (up from 48 the year before), and gave up 7.7 quarterback pressures per game, their worst mark in three years. For the 28-year-old Newsome, it was his first true test as a coach.
That pressure has only grown with the arrival of No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood, Michigan’s likely new quarterback, and the season-ending injury to five-star tackle Andrew Babalola on Aug. 18. “Every great Michigan team has been led by the offensive line,” Newsome said earlier this month. “That’s the expectation. You can shy away from it, or you can embrace it.”
The line does return three starters — center Greg Crippen, guard Giovanni El-Hadi, and tackle Evan Link — but each comes with caveats. Crippen split reps last year before his competition transferred, while El-Hadi and Link are both switching sides of the line. Sophomore Andrew Sprague is expected to step in at right tackle, with right guard still unsettled. Left tackle remains the biggest worry: Link allowed 30 quarterback pressures last season, one of the worst marks in the Big Ten, and while coaches insist he has improved, Babalola’s emergence had been reassuring before his injury.
Babalola’s loss is significant. A top-20 national recruit and Michigan’s highest-rated offensive line signee ever, he quickly developed both physically and mentally, impressing Newsome with his intelligence and work ethic. Landing him added to Newsome’s strong recruiting résumé, which already included blue-chip tight ends like Brady Prieskorn and offensive line prospects Ty Haywood and Avery Gach. The 2026 class, ranked 10th nationally, already features three more four-star linemen.
That ability to attract talent reflects the lofty praise Harbaugh once heaped on Newsome, calling him a future star in coaching — even predicting he would become a head coach one day. But before any of that can unfold, Newsome must prove himself where it matters most: restoring Michigan’s offensive line to championship form.
