Name: Avery Gach
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 287 lbs.
High school: Franklin (MI) Groves
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #74
Last year: Gach was a senior in high school (LINK).
TTB Rating: 77
Gach committed to Michigan despite being a Michigan State legacy, and that not only takes some intelligence, but also some guts. I guess it should be pretty obvious that the Wolverines are the better choice given both options, but some people aren't able to grasp it. Michigan pursued Gach because he's tough and aggressive, envisioning a return to the physical offensive lines that led the way for Michigan's rushing offense from 2021-2023, and Gach has the mindset to be able to play for a line like that.
Gach is rated in the 247 Composite as an interior offensive lineman (4-star, #15 IOL, #279 overall) but some sites rank him as a tackle. I think his feet are too slow laterally to make tackle an option, so he's likely limited to guard or perhaps center. But he definitely has the tenacity to be a physical finisher on the interior as a run blocker. He did some good things in the spring game as an early enrollee, but he still needs to learn some technique, play lower, and add some weight to his 287 lb. frame. He is likely headed for a redshirt, but if one of the early season games turns into a blowout, I could see him getting a few snaps to prepare him for the future.
Prediction: Redshirt
Yep this is around where a freshman under 300 SHOULD rank. Michigan's OL is a big ol pile of uncertainty though. We're back to the dark days of true freshman being in the conversation for not only a meaningful backup role but a potential starting one.
ReplyDeleteThinking back to 2024 when OT looked loaded up with options and yet we ended up starting Andrew Sprague against Alabama.
https://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2024/07/2024-season-countdown-79-andrew-sprague.html
They weren't BAD players ahead of Sprague, and they were vets, but the thing was none of those OT options (aside from Hinton) was all that good either. So Michigan went with Sprague in the end.
Michigan faces a potentially similar situation at OG this year with El Hadi locked into one spot and then a bunch of ?s beyond him. The guy from Ferris State?, the 275 pound guy from Cal Poly?, some other internal option that hasn't done anything yet like Efobi?, a position switch? And then what happens if a guy like El Hadi is unavailable on top of it...
The field probably has a big advantage over Gach because well, freshman OL, duh, but he was an EE who drew a lot of praise in the spring at a position where questions loom very very large. I'd rank him a lot higher (80s?) on the off chance that he's this year's Sprague.
Maybe it's only a 5% chance, but a 5% chance of being a starter is probably a lot more valuable to the team than a 1% chance of being anything other than a special teams contributor exclusively.
In fairness to the 2024 class, there were a couple injuries (Jeffrey Persi, Andrew Gentry) that led to Sprague starting in the bowl game. And Gentry was already in the transfer portal by then, though he was injured so he couldn't have played anyway.
DeleteSo Hinton, Link, Persi, and Gentry were all ahead of Sprague, at least at one point.
The 275 lb. guy from Cal Poly is supposedly up to like 315 now. He said in an interview that the 275 number is from his freshman year at Cal Poly. So take that for what it's worth.
Yep availability played a big factor at OL last year. Likely to again this year, though ideally it won't force a freshman into the lineup again...
DeleteSprague was the 9th option on the OL last year, but started a game anyway. That doesn't always happen. But it's pretty typical for your 7th or 8th guy to. In 2023 El Hadi was #8 by snaps and played in every game (after starting a few in 2022). In 2022 Persi was #8 by snaps and started 1 game as an injury replacement. In 2021 Trente Jones was #8 and played in every game and got 2 starts as a bonus OL.
Bottom line - more often than not your #8 OL will end up starting a game for you. Sometimes it will be guy #9.
With Michigan losing 6 of their top 8 from last year there are a lot of vacancies left open. El Hadi, Link, Sprague, and Crippen probably have 4 of the top 8 locked down. Lets pencil in Efobi, Guarana and Norton for 3 more spots in the top 8 as well, based on what we saw in the spring. That leaves one more opening for another guy who is likely to at some point play a very meaningful role.
That could be Hattar or Babaloa or...
Gach is far from a lock but IMO at least in the convo for a top 8 spot (i.e., part time starter). Certainly others are too but I'm not sure I'd feel real comfortable considering any of them 40 spots higher than Gach. In my eyes those guys all go in a pile of cross your fingers and hope one of them a lot better than you expect, a lot sooner than you expect.
Yeah, my problem with the OL was that the veterans didn't provide the seamless transition we all hoped for. Young Sprague came in and did fine ... youth wasn't the problem
DeleteHaving coached offensive line quite a bit, I'm a big believer in getting comfortable at a position. From the angle of steps, the type of athlete you're facing, the hand technique, the footwork, the leverage, etc., I just think changing positions is a tougher thing than a lot of people think it is.
DeleteNow Sherrone Moore is a former offensive lineman and offensive line coach, so I'm not saying he's in over his head.
But I thought last year was a bit of a head scratcher with the deployment of players. Myles Hinton played right tackle before but they put him at left tackle. Giovanni El-Hadi had played left guard before, but they put him at right guard. Evan Link was a left tackle in high school but they played him at right tackle.
The only two guys playing where they were most comfortable were Crippen (center) and Priebe (left guard). Now I know they couldn't have played both Priebe and El-Hadi at left guard, so something had to change, but 3/5 starters were at "new" spots in 2024. I just don't think that's a great recipe for success.
Link recently said in an interview that a) he feels more comfortable at left tackle and b) he and the other guys didn't really realize what it took to be successful at the same level that the 2021-2023 teams were. He said they weren't as close as they should have been, etc., and they're working on that camaraderie this off-season.
Only time will tell if they have the ability to figure it out. But I do believe there can be too much shuffling that goes on. Generally, I would like a guy to practice at LT extensively (and preferably play there in a backup role) before having him start at LT, practice at LG extensively, etc.
Yep that all tracks.
DeleteI'm hopeful Link-El Hadi can settle in on the left side. Also hopeful that between Juan Castillo, Sherrone Moore, Lindsey, and of course Newsome there is a coordinated approach for development that aligns with the personnel and scheme.
That development is critical because they really seem to be more comfortable with youth, inexperience, and a lack of continuity relative to the Harbaugh era. Some of that was necessary but some of it was head scratching decisions (like Giudice starting game 1 and Gentry and Crippen on the bench). Moore has also publicly talked about guys switching positions around the OL in 2025 and I don't think he was limiting that to Link and El Hadi flipping sides.
Link will be a junior technically but far from proven given his struggles last year. At least he has been out there. Sprague red-shirted and is obviously is very young. He played just 2 snaps before the impressive bowl game (indicating a lot of development can happen in practice).
El Hadi and Crippen are really the only two rock solid pieces they have and Crippen was in and out of the starting lineup last year and El Hadi is flipping spots.
The continuity won't be there again in 2025. Crippen is the only guy who is returning at the same spot he started at for most of last year. I agree that lack of continuity was a massive issue in 2024 but it seems like it will be even more of an issue, not less in 2025.
I don't know that camaraderie or guys moving to where they are most comfortable is going to fix that. But we can hope.
DeleteYep the best case scenario I can imagine with my maize colored glasses on:
LG - El Hadi lives up to his talent and plays at an all conference level.
OC - Crippen settles in and guides the entire unit with a Vastardis-like final season.
RT - Sprague is as much of a stud as he looked like he could be in game 1. Locked in on the NFL track as a sophomore (RS Frosh).
LT - Link takes all those 2024 lessons learned and makes a leap as a RS Soph at his most comfortable position. Not all conference but not a liability either.
RG - Hattar shows up as a big mean 330+ pound badass and plugs right in at a new position. Some adjustment early in the season before settling in as a road grader.
The last one seems like a long shot but there are other options for guy #5.
Yep, questioning the coaches is fun but ...
Delete"That development is critical because they really seem to be more comfortable with youth, inexperience, and a lack of continuity relative to the Harbaugh era"
Misleading. Newsome played (and started) as a TrFr; Onwenu didn't start as a TrFR, but was playing in most games on a playoff contender; Cesar Ruiz played & started in year one; Runyan wasn't young, but inexperienced when he took over at LT on another playoff contender; Jaylen Mayfield was a RS when he started, but played in his first year; Ryan Hayes played in every game as a RSFr; even in the glorious 2o21 conference championship & payoff team, Vastardis was an inexperienced starter, while 6-5 was a TRSo playing his first full season since High School
Coaches play the guys on their roster. Sometimes the best guys are young and/or inexperienced, but if we "trust the coaches," they're playing the best on hand
Yep I guess I can clarify the statement was mostly oriented to the last few years of the Harbaugh era, when the team was most successful. That's when you saw a veteran/experienced unit year in and year out. That correlated strongly with team success. OL is THAT important.
DeleteWhen the best example of youth or inexperience you have is a 6th year senior, well...I think that about says it.
A lot of on-field lessons learned in 2020 by young and inexperienced players then got paid off in those subsequent seasons. Yes that was the Harbaugh era and yes a lot of young guys played out of necessity. But 2020 was real bad.
So let's get specific: True freshman playing anything more than garbage time (like Onwenu or Crippen) is typically a sign of trouble.
2015 - Newsome starts 1 game
2017 - Ruiz started 5 times
2020 - Zinter started 4 times
2024 - Sprague starts 1
Not coincidentally, those are the 4 worst offenses Michigan has had over the last 10 years. And let's not get started on the 2014 debacle...
Moving up to a sophomore year and I would argue that yep there is nothing inherently wrong with starting a sophomore -- if he's on the NFL track like Zinter, Mayfield, Hayes, or Ruiz. Sophomore seasons become a lot more plausible for a lot more guys than freshman seasons. The hope is that Sprague is on the track.
But if they aren't ready for it (Link) and you're doing it consistently because your other options are bad well, that's a concern.
Other guys (most guys) need more years -- including Runyan who played in 1 game his first 2 years and struggled in his junior year while getting his first start in the bowl game, where he struggled. A lot of guys (most guys) are rounding into form around junior year but some guys aren't really good until senior year, 5th year, or even 6th (see Vastardis).
The hope is that Link's struggles, like Runyan's in 2017, like a bunch of guys on the OL unit in 2020, pay off in future years.
OL is a position where experience is particularly beneficial. Where physical development and technique development is particularly beneficial. Where cohesion and stability are particularly beneficial.
Yep, more so than other positions, it's not just about putting the most talented guy out there.
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Coaches are in charge of not only development but player acquisition. In the portal era, for a powerhouse program like Michigan -- that can go out and get high cost players like Underwood, Hayes, Babaloa, Payne, Williams -- it's not JUST about development or playing the best guy on your roster. You can look back to Greg Crippen in 2021 when he was given backup snaps in low leverage situations to prepare for a starting role in 2022. But he wasn't ready for it as a soph (or 2024 for that matter, it seems) and Michigan instead hit up the portal for big time fixes in '22 and '23. They chose not to do it in 2024 (except for Priebe who was coming on board before Moore became HC) and again in 2025 (except for the 2 low level guys).
Coaches control who is on the roster as they control who they play, and how they develop. Harbaugh leaned on vets when he could and filled holes with the portal when he could. Moore is not following that example right now.
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Trust the Harbaugh staff in who they chose to play on the roster? Yep, pretty much every time they got it right and they Harbs had the track record to deserve the trust.
Trust the Harbaugh staff to manage the roster optimally? Ehhh, mostly, at the macro level yep can't argue with success, but plenty of valid questions on specifics here or there.
Trust the Moore staff to do either? Yep, nope. Not yet. Not on offense.
Haha, target moved to "young" or "inexperienced" to ... ""tRuE fReShMaN," "wEll, iF ... " and then an essay that ignores every OL on the 2o24 rotation was recruited by ... James Joseph Harbaugh himself
Delete#exposed
Yep I'm not interested
DeleteI want to take this opportunity to get your opinion on a different topic. That of CFB General Manager. It was talked about when Andrew Luck became Stanford GM and that the football coach would report to him. I actually love this idea. Personally, I think Coach Moore can develop and call plays on the football field but his biggest weakness is that of roster construction. Do you think Michigan should hire a football GM who is responsible for (1) talent acquisition on the football roster. So he is in charge of recruiting HS players, transfer portal. Tamper away in a “legal” manner just like NBA teams do it all the time. (2) Managing NIL. Doling out which player to pay, How to get the most bang for the buck with the NIL limit we have. Raising funds. (3) Hiring coaches. My gut feel is that more and more colleges will move towards this model. Stanford has done it first. Michigan should try to hire the best “front office” team while the going price is (rather should be) relatively cheap. I am especially interested in what Thunder thinks as he is a coach himself.
ReplyDeleteI think it's far too soon to judge Moore on roster construction. Dude got the job after the first (winter portal) was done, and had to put together a staff after being gutted by the NFL
DeleteThat we beat all of our rivals - capped with a win in The Shoe and against Bama with a walk-on QB is enough to warrant some patience
*oh, and on the "construction" part, it should be tough to complain about the highest rated player in the country at the most important position, along with bookend 5star Tackles and a top6 Class in year one
Question? Certainly. But not much to complain about, yet
Yep, we already have that except for the hiring coaches part.
Deletehttps://mgoblue.com/news/2024/3/6/sean-magee-named-u-m-football-general-manager
"As the Senior Associate Athletic Director and General Manager, Magee will oversee all aspects of the recruiting and player personnel departments as well as coordinate the program's NIL initiatives. He will handle the identification, evaluation and recruitment of prospective student-athletes in conjunction with the head coach and staff and manage the roster of current student-athletes while identifying future needs for the program."
I think it would be a little odd to take away staff decisions from Moore and hand it to the GM instead, but I think those decisions are probably made jointly.
DeleteI think the game at the CFB level is moving a lot closer to the NFL model and further away from high school. With more and more money involved the professionalization of CFB seems to continue and given the NFL's financial success I think it's hard to put the breaks on change for the sake of tradition, fan interests, etc.
"his biggest weakness is that of roster construction"
DeleteYep I don't know if I'm ready to say this because there appear to be a lot of potential weaknesses so far.
While we can give some grace through year 1, the approach on offense was absolutely dismal and and it was dismal on many fronts, not just roster construction.
But just to defend Moore a little bit -- the management of the roster on defense was absolutely stellar. There weren't a lot of needs but the ones that were there (DB depth) were the ones that Moore addressed. He landed 4 DBs last spring after Moore got injured and Sabb and Waller left. That was excellent work, and landing Zvada to address the kicking situation was similarly stellar.
The curious thing is the other side of the ball. Michigan had some needs but elected NOT to pursue a QB, or additional OL help, or WRs better than Walker or Charleston, or any TEs to replace the departures of Barner, Hibner, Beetham, etc.
All of that roster mismanagement of offense could probably have been mitigated with a different decisions on depth chart, personnel, scheme, playcalls. Notable that Michigan also elected NOT to add a veteran analyst to mentor and support their rookie OC through a year of massive turnover.
And while we don't know what 2025 holds yet I think we can openly question the roster decisions on offense. Moore deserves patience to see if it works but heavy questioning is absolutely warranted. And again, the contrast with defense stands out. Michigan absolutely crushed the portal on the defensive side of the ball getting 2 starting caliber DTs from down south, a high upside ILB from Georgia, a starting safety from Arkansas and (for the 3rd year in a row) a veteran corner from a small school.
Again, we have to wait and see but on paper that's addressing every question on the defensive side of the ball, while maintaining a ton of continuity. The offensive side of the ball is just a boatload of questions ranging from "can this guy even play at this level" to "why was this guy benched last year"? And some of these guys are being relied on to be starters or top backups.
The jeckyll and hyde of the program is really something I have no explanation for. The most curious part of it is that Moore is an offensive guy!
Questioning of the offense is absolutely warranted
DeleteJust a hunch, but perhaps the coaches were erroneously confident in their "playmakers" at WR and agreed that 8wins with that QB room was "loser thinking" ... but je93 was right!
@FT
DeleteYep I don't know who hired a GM first but it wasn't Stanford.
Courtney Morgan (current GM at Alabama, former GM at Washington) was the first one I remember seeing the title with. Interesting that his Alabama bio says he was a GM at Michigan although the position was not called that at Michigan - he was the Director of Player Personnel at that time. Big overlap in job duties so it's not unreasonable.
https://mgoblue.com/news/2021/4/23/former-wolverine-morgan-named-footballs-director-of-player-personnel
You may find this interesting:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31795157/the-rise-college-football-general-manager
"And therein lies the biggest difference between the GM of the NFL and college. It's simple, really. GMs in college have a lot of authority, but they're essentially serving as the right-hand to the head coach, who has the ultimate authority."
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Stanford's approach does seem unique in elevating the GM above the HC, as in the NFL. I think that would be a tough thing at an elite program right now, unless it becomes more common nationally. It would be tough to get an elite coach if you are diminishing their power and control relative to other programs.
I feel like Michigan is somewhat in between in that Magee is not just in charge of NIL and Player Personal but also got promoted to the Associate AD (for football) title several years ago. So while he may still be considered under Moore in some respects he is also kind of to the side of him in terms of dealing with the AD. Hiring and firing the coaching staff isn't in his job duties, but he probably would play a key role in doing so if it came down to it.
https://www.on3.com/teams/michigan-wolverines/news/sean-magee-officially-announced-as-michigan-football-gm-a-big-one-for-sherrone-moore/
yep
ReplyDeleteDang right!
Delete