Jim Harding on rebuilding trust and retaining Michigan’s O-line

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Michigan football is entering a new era, but if all goes to plan, it won't look incredibly different from the era that the Wolverines are coming off of — of course, meaning the end of Jim Harbaugh's tenure, not the most recent coaching staff.

Kyle Whittingham is known from his time at Utah for having tough, hard-nosed teams that start with elite trench play. The hope is that 2022 wasn't the last Joe Moore Award won in Ann Arbor anytime soon.

With new offensive line coach Jim Harding leading the charge in the offensive trenches, his first task was to retain what the Wolverines already had — a tough job given that two top playmakers along the line entered the transfer portal, and many recruits had a wandering eye. Yet, the maize and blue retained all their top talent on the O-line, while adding Nebraska transfer Houston Kaahaaina-Torres. Harding told Jordan Strack and Chris Wormley on the Stadium & Main Podcast about the task he had arriving in Ann Arbor and how everything came together.

"I think here at Michigan, just the brand, the ability to recruit nationally, that’s something that’s a little bit new coming from Utah," Harding said. "In this last recruiting class, they have a kid signed from Hawaii that we actually recruited, and then as far east as Massachusetts with Marky Walbridge. So that’s about as coast-to-coast as you can come.

"And so it really has been, with two of those guys already being on campus, another young man from Maryland, and then we have two joining us in the summer, that 26 class, certainly you wanna keep those guys. But in addition to the '26 class, it really was a bit of a challenge, to say the least, trying to get kids that were currently on the roster to try to give us an opportunity to develop some trust and kind of show them what I think we can do. And that’s in no disrespect to the previous staff whatsoever."

Harding elaborated on the challenge of player retention, working hard to keep the elite players who were already on the roster.

Given the time constraints, it wasn't exactly an easy job, yet he and the rest of the new-look Michigan staff managed to get the job done.

"It’s these kids that are on the roster currently at Michigan who really went through a lot of drama and a lot of adversity and things like that," Harding said. "And so having a brand new staff come in and really the first week just being on the phone because school didn’t start until January 7th. So those first four or five days, just trying to develop any sort of relationship with those kids over a phone call, was a challenge. But we had, I think in the offensive line room, I think five kids went into the portal, and two of them came out, and really, really thankful and appreciate them buying in and giving me an opportunity to hopefully help them develop, and then not only achieve the goals we need to as a team, but also for them individually."

According to reports, spring ball is set to commence in mid-March with eyes on a likely spring game on April 18.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jim Harding details Michigan’s O-line retention under Kyle Whittingham

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