Previously: The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. 

INTERIOR OL: YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY

Michigan's offensive line is coming off back-to-back Joe "Sherrone" Moore awards. They get back six guys who started games last year and added two of the Pac-12's best OL, plus a former five-star with a season and change of starting experience. Cocky? Nah. Call it confid—

On Zinter's proposed formation with 10 offensive linemen and a running back

You know, I get ... every day the linemen are sending me plays and formations. I'm like, 'can you guys just worry about what you got to do?'

Ok, cocky.

I am rapturous about Sherrone Moore rolling into the building every morning only for Keegan and Zinter to confront him with their latest ludicrous offense against God and football. They are both wearing full pads and helmets. Keegan sports his trademark faceful of eyeblack. They show him a play where three offensive linemen pull in different directions and then the ball is lateraled to a fourth OL. Moore tries very hard to remember that these guys are his ticket to a head coaching job next year and says he'll take it under advisement. Zinter and Keegan high five, elated. Exit stage right, repeat every day of the summer.

In addition to those two guys, Michigan added a two year starter and All Pac-12 honorable mention center to go with two more guys who I'd be perfectly comfortable starting. And the top backup at guard looked like he'd start at a majority of Big Ten schools last year, when he was a redshirt freshman.

Sometimes I think back to that time Rich Rodriguez got the Michigan job and arrived to find out he had a total of seven scholarship OL, one of whom was immediately lost for the season. This section's title is a riff on old lady cigarette ads, and I assume Rodriguez smoked several packs of lady cigarettes upon beholding the roster. That's over! ALL OF THAT IS OVER.

Michigan's offensive line is now a zombie apocalypse. You can shoot as many guys in the head with a shotgun as you want but the pile is gonna lurch forward with you under it.

[After THE JUMP: there is a PFF intern who deserves a whoopin']

FORMATION NOTES: Rutgers uses a blizzard of different fronts but spends the game in a nickel with said nickel over the slot almost all the time, and then that guy gets nosy in the box almost all of the time.

Here they've shifted their line over to the strength of the formation and the nickel is the littlest LB closes to the center of the field.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Usual at QB, obviously. Edwards got more carries earlier than usual; seemed like Corum may have been ill and Michigan was trying to limit his usage. At TE, Schoonmaker went out for a portion of the game and this led to more Loveland snaps. At OL, Persi took over for Hayes. On some goal line snaps Persi went out, El-Hadi came in and Keegan kicked out to tackle. Also El-Hadi got the last drive with the starters when Keegan got dinged.

WR saw more rotation with Wilson out. Walker and Morris both got targets and Anthony was a bigger part of the gameplan. No Clemons.

[After THE JUMP: a much more interesting defense]

Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Offensive Tackle.

The Joe Moore Award was started in 2015 by some Notre Dame OL with money who wanted to honor their old line coach. Mike DeBord's career spanned roughly the same time period as Joe Moore's, and by any metric was as successful. Had Jeff Backus thought to endow an award before former ND tackle Aaron Taylor, it might have been the Mike DeBord Award.

This would have been a superior development. It rhymes, for one. Two, I wouldn't have to keep specifying first names when differentiating between the line coach the award is named for, and the line coach whose guys won the award in his first-ever season as line coach.

Since nobody has the time to chart every OL, the award for most outstanding offensive line is as much about vibe as anything else. Eleven games into 2021, I would bet Michigan wasn't in the Might Have Been DeBord Award committee's top three. Eleven point seven-five games into 2021, this was the vibe:

Michigan should not pass the ball anymore.

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) November 27, 2021

(But in a good way)

The two Michigan guards putting tears in the eyes of gruff former trenchmen who say "football" like "FOOT-ball" were just 2nd and 3rd year players with freshman eligibility. They lost an organized, underratedly agile walk-on but are joined by a transfer the Rimington voters thought was no worse than the 3rd best in college football. Our heuristics would be projecting a healthy charge up the rankings and hot-taking Moore's corps to win the Moore if they hadn't just done so.

The comparisons to 2000 and 2019 have already begun. The next generation has made the two-deep. The biggest questions people have about the interior OL are "How long can it last?" and "Can we buy them all Italian sports cars so they'll never leave?"

Michigan OL Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter sign a Lamborghini NIL deal with Xtremexperience. @bighitslive @DenoteHunter @DzikNoah pic.twitter.com/vGzgtwxHRq

— Bighitsnil (@Bighitsnil) May 23, 2022

Okay then, so how long can it last?