jd duplain

Previously: Quarterback, Running Back, Receivers

Installment #4, and the final piece of the offensive side of the ball, for The Enemy, Ranked 2023 has arrived. Today we'll be looking at the offensive lines on Michigan's schedule. This list is not a murderer's row by any means and in fact the teams at the top of this list are teams in which the offensive line is one of the biggest question spots on their team. Part of this is Michigan being unable to play themselves (which I noted in RB), but part of it is Wisconsin and Illinois not being on the schedule either. So keep that in mind as you read this piece, which I will try to emphasize as we go along. 

12. Bowling Green

Note for tables in this piece: bold = returning starter, italic = transfer in who started at another school  

Bowling Green was 112th in Football Outsiders' adjusted line yards metric last season and now lose three starters off of that line. The returners, Bronson Warner at RG and Alex Wollschlaeger at RT, graded out horribly in PFF's charting last season (I don't like having to defer to PFF on OL, but I also didn't get a chance to chart BGSU myself in 2022 so I have no choice). That's a rough place to start from! Projected LG starter Tunde Fatukasi is a sort of half-returning starter, logging a ton of snaps last season on offense (442) after transferring from Rutgers (you may remember his brother, Rutgers stand-out LB Olakunle Fatukasi) but his grading wasn't any better. So while there are some pieces with experience, it's not exactly great experience. The same could be said for Kameren Stewart, who right now is not seen as a projected starter at tackle despite logging 461 offensive snaps of his own for the Falcons last year, also to subpar results. 

To try and help the rough performances from the returners and fill in the gaps, C Hunter Deyo comes in as a 4* RS Fr transfer from Iowa State. He didn't play for the Cyclones in any substantial capacity last season, so this is his first go-around. Former C Cade Zimmerly missed last season with an injury and may not be back until mid-season, so TBD on that. Nate Pabst is a second year player moving from DL to OL (never really what I want to hear), while reserves at G and T Chris Akporoghene and Armon Bethea, respectively, are P5 transfers in from various locations without much experience in multiple seasons of CFB. In summation, this is an OL that was terrible last year, loses three starters, brings back some pieces who were mostly substandard, and brings in transfers with little to no experience. Not great! 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More offensive lines]

Previously: Quarterback, Running Backs, Receivers 

Welcome to Opponent Preview week! Next week is the real preview week of Michigan Football, but this week will be mostly about the opponents, as I've got four more The Enemy pieces lined up, and I believe we should have the conclusion to Opponent Watch as well. If you like reading about Michigan's opponents, this is the week for you.

We are now on to the offensive line, which is a little bit longer of a piece because there are more names to talk about. I provide the depth chart below each team, showing the starters and a couple reserves who may see the field or are of note. Ideally, these are the first up at guard or tackle. A quick note about the format: bold refers to a returning starter while italics refers to a starter at another school who has transferred in. For this piece, I lean heavily on PFF grades for the non-conference teams because traditional stats don't exist for OL and I didn't really watch any of these teams last year. Then we transition to using my own charting from FFFF last year once we get into the B1G slate. 

12. Connecticut 

The Huskies rank last on our list due to an offensive line that is in the process of being rebuilt without a ton of talent or experience. They do return two starters from last season, both of them at guard, and both posted solid PFF grades. However, we must point out a pretty important caveat with UCONN's PFF grades: PFF does not curve based on quality of opponent and the Huskies played a dreadful schedule last season, with 1/3 of the games being UMass, Holy Cross, Yale, and Vandy. So take both those scores with a grain of salt. UCONN imports a transfer center with plenty of experience, Jake Guidone, but he is coming from Dartmouth, which makes him not the most fit to block teams like Michigan. Canadian Chris Fortin slides in at RT after playing some last season, but he received poor marks in those outings, and Austrian LT Valentin Senn transfers in from Colorado, boasting little experience. 

This is a group with a couple decent returning players (but ones who were decent against a horrendous schedule), a transfer center from the Ivy League, and tackles with little experience and recruiting rankings outside the top 1,800 national players in their respective years. The depth doesn't offer much of anything to note either, so this is pretty much the same story for what UCONN has been in this series so far, an untalented positional group offering little experience or depth. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: OLs with fewer Ivy League transfers]