Michigan football offensive line bonding begins with lake day, 'thousands' spent on food
- Michigan's offensive line is focusing on improved cohesion and bonding for the upcoming season.
- Offensive lineman Gio El-Hadi hosted a team bonding event at his uncle's lake house.
- Competition for starting positions on the offensive line is fierce, with 10 players vying for five spots.
The Michigan football staff has a phrase to describe how it wants the offensive line to thrive: Five operating as one.
All five members of the unit must work with cohesion and as one mind. But how does a group become one mind?
Raw physical talent helps: Putting five players who who can stand up against 300-pounders using rips, swim moves and stunts for approximately 70 plays per game is the first step, as a weakness anywhere on the line will soon ripple to other spots.
But talent alone isn't enough. It also comes down to the bond between linemen. The unspoken connections pushed the Wolverines to back-to-back Joe Moore awards (given annually to the nation's top college offensive line) in 2021 and 2022, and though they were merely semifinalists for the award in 2023, the College Football Playoff title (over Moore winner Washington) was a nice consolation prize.
Winning, of course, tends to enhance that bond, while losing can exacerbate the stresses. Enter 2024, in which the Wolverines lost five of their first 10 games before recovering with three wins to wrap up the season. Although no Wolverine had a reason for the line's woes in 2024, lineman Gio El-Hadi admitted earlier this month, at the Champions Circle Golf Classic at the The Cardinal at St. John's in Plymouth Township, that the unit didn't succeed like previous groups.
Not just on the field − that was obvious − but in its bonding.
"I don't know, last year was just, it was like groups within the O-line," he said. "Now it's just an O-line. You know, this is one big group and somebody's going out to eat and it's, 'Oh, you wanna come?' Going to the movies or whatever we do, we're just doing it more often (as a group)."
The Wolverines' 2025 season officially began this week, with fall camp opening on Tuesday, July 29, and the first practice as Team 146 on Wednesday, July 30. But as far as the offensive line was concerned, 2025 truly began in winter conditioning, continued through spring ball and into summer workouts and was fortified over the summer.
El-Hadi made sure to do his part, inviting every member of position coach Grant Newsom's group, plus several other key members of the offense, for an outing at the Belleville Yacht Club.
"I had the guys over a couple weeks ago," he said on July 21. "The whole offensive line, Bryce (Underwood) ... and some other guys, there was probably about 30-40 of us at my uncle's lake house.
"We had a great time, went to the country club, went jet-skiing, everything you can think about. It was great."
Just picture more than a dozen 300-pounders, supplemented with another couple dozen who aren't quite that size but are still Division I athletes. How much does something like that cost?
"Thousands," El Hadi said with a laugh. "But we had everything − chicken, steak, kabobs, burgers, we had everything."
For U-M's projected starting left guard, it's money well spent as he looks to end his fifth season in Ann Arbor as a winner. Not just an 8-5 season, either, but returning to the CFP, a goal he accomplished in each of his first three seasons.
El-Hadi is expected to start at left guard, and Greg Crippen has the center spot. But the other three roles are all still up for grabs.
It's a three-player battle for left tackle − featuring Evan Link, Andrew Babalola or Blake Frazier − while right guard will likely have a new face. If it's not Nathan Efobi, it will be one of the transfers: Brady Norton (Sacramento State) or Lawrence Hattar (Ferris State). Right tackle seems like it will be Andrew Sprague's job, but that, too, is not certain.
Either way, coach Sherrone Moore is more optimistic about where his former position group is this go-round than at the same time last year.
“I feel even better this year that we have at least 10 guys competing for those five spots, where I think it was maybe six or seven the year before,” Moore said. “I feel like there are 10 guys competing, so no one can relax. When you have that, then you feel like you’ve got good competition, and you can get better every single day.”
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
For openers: Lobos
Matchup: Michigan (8-5 in 2024) vs. New Mexico (5-7), 2025 season opener.
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.
TV/radio: NBC; WXYT-FM (97.1).