Michigan OL wins second consecutive Joe Moore Award

For the second straight year, the Michigan Wolverines have been recognized as the best offensive line in college football.

Michigan is the first team to win the award in consecutive years and joins Alabama as the only two-time winners. The Joe Moore Award has been presented annually since 2015.

The starting combination pictured above (from left to right): right tackle Karsen Barnhart, right guard Zak Zinter, center Olu Oluwatimi, left guard Trevor Keegan and left tackle Ryan Hayes feature three repeat winners from last year’s team.

Hayes, Keegan and Zinter were starters in the same positions in 2021, with Barnhart replacing Andrew Stueber and Oluwatimi replacing Andrew Vastardis. Oluwatimi also won the Rimington and Outland awards for his efforts this season, presented annually to the nation’s top center and top interior linemen (offense or defense), respectively.

However, this group but did not win this award without key contributions from several other offensive linemen on the roster.

Right tackle Trente Jones and left guard Giovanni El-Hadi have both played key roles this season and due to the unavailability of others, have a handful of starts to their name. Even left tackle Jeffrey Persi stepped up to start when his name was called with Hayes dealing with an injury against Rutgers.

Michigan’s offensive line has been lead by co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore the last two years and the results literally speak for themselves. Moore has gone from a relatively unknown commodity to the best offensive line coach in the country.

Michigan’s offensive identity was forged in the trenches behind this offensive line, which paved the way for the Wolverines to average 243 rushing yards per game.

The Wolverines could face the only other finalist for the award — Georgia — in the National Championship.