FanPost

Offensive Line Notes

Starting offensive line:

LT - Erik Magnuson

LG - Kyle Bosch

C - Graham Glasgow

RG - Kyle Kalis

RT - Ben Braden

Depth chart:

Left Tackle

Left Guard

Center

Right Guard

  • Kyle Kalis
  • Kyle Bosch
  • David Dawson
  • Graham Glasgow
  • Chris Bryant

Right Tackle

Notes:

  • I'll state the obvious before I just hop in: the off-season means a lot and can shake this all up, and also I'm no Moses to lead anyone to O-line clairvoyance. But the O-line mattered to our season, it matters to good football and to Michigan, and any kernels gleaned for understanding the pieces in play are good.
  • Brady Hoke mentioned David Dawson and Ben Braden specifically getting extra reps in advance of Kansas State, which means they must have been doing some good things in their assignments, technique and/or strength.
  • Ben Braden was a guy they wanted to get in earlier in the year, but he was a "fish out of water" at guard and they put him back to tackle to give him a full year to study.
  • Joey Burzynski will come back from an ACL tear ready for this next season. His strengths are his smarts, but he's undersized and not as athletic at 6'1", 293 lbs. This means he'll challenge for only the left guard spot; since the left tackle protects the quarterback's "blind side" (assuming he's right-handed), the LT's considered more valuable than the RT, but conversely the right side is the strong side and the best guard goes over there. Burzynski isn't strong enough to control nose tackles, so he's providing depth at LG.
  • Erik Magnuson will transition to his natural tackle position, a move Michael Schofield made after being a left guard during his redshirt sophomore season.
  • Kyle Kalis is strong as an ox but needs to keep his emotions under control - he had a bad habit of letting mistakes snowball last season.
  • At the very least we're going to look like a Michigan O-line in time for the fall (LT-RT, 6'6", 295; 6'5", 302; 6'6", 303; 6'5", 302; 6'6", 318) after starting Erik Magnuson, Burzynski and Jack Miller for eleven combined games at the interior of the line, when all of them were under 300 lbs., which is where you're supposed to be your most stout. Magnuson will be back in a critical role, but he'll have another season to bulk up after being a redshirt freshman and he's moving outside.
  • Blake Bars practiced at center to give other people reps in advance of the Kansas State game. It's a "more natural" position for him, but he still would be behind Kugler and Glasgow at center.
  • I'm predicting Glasgow will start simply off his experience (he'll be a redshirt junior) over Kugler.
  • Burzynski started one game this year, at Indiana; Chris Bryant started two but was shelved later for Erik Magnuson. Since he's only played in three games, after not playing the two years prior, I'm expecting less from Chris Bryant going forward.
  • Chris Fox and Logan Tuley-Tillman are very important for giving the tackle position depth in case something goes wrong. LTT was considered more of a raw prospect and has spent time reshaping his body. Chris Fox came off an ACL injury at the end of his senior year of high school, though, so he may need more time and reps to hone his technique.

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