Michigan OL coach Jim Harding working to build centerpiece of offense

Jake Guarnera appears to have locked down the starting job as Michigan's center next season.

Blake Frazier, who started eight games last season, is projected at left tackle and Andrew Sprague at right tackle. Among those contending to start at the guard spots are Nathan Efobi, Brady Norton, who missed some practice time this spring; and Link, who has made 18 starts, all at tackle. Link was limited during spring practice as he continued to recover from a knee injury suffered last October, and tackle Andrew Babalola was out this spring as he heals from an a torn ACL suffered before last season. He is expected to be a factor this fall at tackle, and transfer Houston Ka’aha’aina-Torres is competing in the interior.

“Babalola has length and certainly has a lot of talent, but now he's got to come back from that ACL, which they have said that he'll be back to full strength come summer workouts,” Harding said. “Evan Link missed a good chunk of spring ball and Norton missed a piece of it. There are some puzzle pieces we're still trying to put together, just because I didn't get an opportunity to move the guys around as much as I wanted to, to try to check out their skill sets. That'll be really critical early on in fall camp, once everybody's back.”

Making sure he could get most of the offensive linemen back was Harding’s first task after arriving at Michigan. Pretty much as soon as he was hired at Michigan, he needed to get to work to retain linemen who, in light of the coaching change, were thinking about finding a new team. Guarnera and Sprague had entered their names in the NCAA transfer portal, and Harding had to convince them to stay.

More: Jim Harding will do 'remarkable job' on Michigan offensive line, ex-coach predicts

They explored Harding's background during their decision-making process. He has been coaching out west since 2009 and joined Whittingham’s Utah staff in 2014. But he has Midwest roots. Harding is from Maumee, Ohio, was a captain and top offensive lineman at Toledo, and coached at Troy Athens from 2005-2008, with his last season as head coach. Perhaps more significant to Guarnera and Sprague was the fact Harding had coached two tackles at Utah, Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, who were highly regarded heading into the most recent NFL Draft. Fano went No. 9 overall to the Cleveland Browns and Lomu was No. 28 to the New England Patriots.

Last month, Guarnera said Harding playing such a significant role for Fano and Lomu speaks to his ability to develop players.

“And that’s someone I want to play for,” Guarnera said.

Guarnera and Sprague described Harding as having a commanding, disciplined approach.

“Coach Harding is a lot more matter of fact,” Sprague said. “Get the drill, get the job done.”

And while Harding has won over his position group, he knows there’s plenty of work to get done before the season. The Michigan offensive players all spring spoke about being a more explosive offense this fall, but to achieve that, the offensive line has to be in sync in every aspect. With that in mind, being sound in pass protection is Harding’s focus.

“I would say the pass protection is nowhere near what it needed to be (in the spring game),” Harding said. “We’ve got to be a lot. Better technique and fundamentals. There's a number of things. We’ve got to do our part to help out everything else around us. I firmly believe that if we do our job and we give the quarterback time to go through his progression, go through his reads, all that will fall into place. And again, that just goes back to my belief that how this offense is, is a direct reflection of how the offensive line is playing. So just trying to put the puzzle together, so to speak.”

achengelis@detroitnews.com

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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan OL coach Jim Harding working to build centerpiece of offense