Tag: Evan Link

2025 Season Countdown: #18 Evan Link

Name: Evan Link
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 324lbs.
High school: Washington (DC) Gonzaga
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #71
Last year: I ranked Link #34 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He started eleven games.
TTB Rating: 72

Evan Link had one of the most inauspicious seasons for a Michigan lineman in my memory. And during that season, he had a couple of the worst games I’ve ever seen for a Michigan lineman. Perhaps the only more frustrating game was the 2023 version against Penn State where right tackle Karsen Barnhart couldn’t even sniff the Nittany Lions’ edges, so Michigan just ran the ball 30+ times to end the game.

Now take that performance, extend it over most of a season, and you have Evan Link’s 2024.

That all sounds a bit negative, but it doesn’t reflect my true thoughts about Evan Link. I think Link is a better player than what he showed last season. First of all, he was a left tackle in high school, and the skills to play on the right side are naturally flip-flopped. Of course, players move around on the offensive line all the time, but some guys can pull it off and some guys can’t. Second, there were times when Link’s feet looked like they were stuck in mud, but I saw in high school the potential to have better feet than we saw in 2024, too.

I’m not saying Link will have a better season in 2025, but I think the potential is there for him to be a solid player. We have seen less athletic players manage okay on Michigan’s offensive line. I felt like Link was thinking too much last year, and if he can get to a point where he’s playing confidently this fall, we could see a better version. He will be battling to start at left tackle, and there’s a possibility he could slide inside to play right guard. The recent injury of freshman Andrew Babalola is disappointing, but I think Link was ahead in the left tackle battle, anyway. Now the competition appears to be Blake Frazier at left tackle, but my money is on Link to start on the left side.

Prediction: Starting left tackle

2025 Spring Football Preview: Offensive Line

RETURNING PLAYERS: Greg Crippen (RS Sr.), Giovanni El-Hadi (RS Sr.), Connor Jones (RS Jr.), Brooks Bahr (RS So.), Nathan Efobi (RS So.), Evan Link (RS So.), Blake Frazier (RS Fr.), Jake Guarnera (RS Fr.), Luke Hamilton (RS Fr.), Ben Roebuck (RS Fr.), Andrew Sprague (RS Fr.)
NEWCOMERS: Lawrence Hattar (RS Sr.), Brady Norton (RS So.), Andrew Babalola (Fr.), Kaden Strayhorn (Fr.)
DEPARTURES: Raheem Anderson (transfer to Western Michigan), Tristan Bounds (transfer to Arizona), Andrew Gentry (transfer to BYU), Dominick Giudice (transfer to Missouri), Myles Hinton (NFL Draft), Jeffrey Persi (transfer to Pitt), Josh Priebe (NFL Draft)

OUTLOOK: Michigan really struggled up front in 2024, the first year under new offensive line coach Grant Newsome. They did seem to make some progress late in the year, but it was too late to salvage anything but a couple surprise victories against Ohio State and Alabama. The top performer up front was Myles Hinton, a mammoth Stanford transfer. Transfer left guard Josh Priebe struggled at times, and from the center to the right tackle was a travesty for much of the year. Greg Crippen and Dominick Giudice played hot potato with the reins of the center position for the entire year, Giovanni El-Hadi performed disappointingly at right guard, and redshirt freshman Evan Link posted multiple PFF grades of 0.0 in pass protection.

There has been a lot of turnover on the offensive line, with seven players either moving on to the NFL (Hinton, Priebe) or transferring. Giudice, Andrew Gentry, and Jeffrey Persi all had significant starting or playing experience, and all three decided to play elsewhere, leaving somewhat of a void in the remaining offensive line.

The bowl game against Alabama featured Link at left tackle and freshman Andrew Sprague at right tackle, and that may be the configuration we see to begin the spring. Link looked more comfortable on the left side, and Sprague showed some promise at right tackle, especially from an attitude perspective. Add in an off-season of strength and conditioning, and Sprague should be ready to roll.

As for new faces for 2025, Ferris State transfer Lawrence Hattar could possibly be penciled in to start at guard; he’s a fifth year player with lots of starting experience at the Division II level. Andrew Babalola is a 5-star prospect who’s big enough and athletic enough to compete for playing time at one of the tackle positions. Junior college transfer Brady Norton has potential down the road, but he’s probably a developmental guy at this point.

A couple other players who have been rumored to be in contention for playing time are redshirt junior Connor Jones and redshirt sophomore Nathan Efobi. Redshirt freshman Blake Frazier has been mentioned as having potential if he can get/stay healthy, and redshirt freshman Ben Roebuck had college-ready size when he arrived in 2024. All of those players are huge question marks since we haven’t really seen them on the field except during spring games.

Overall, the offensive line is a group with a lot of individual talent, but very little cohesion from playing together. Center Greg Crippen and offensive guard Giovanni El-Hadi have spent lots of time together as two fifth year seniors, but the rest of the players are either young or new to the system. It’s probably a pipe dream to hope for a return to the Joe Moore Award-level play we saw in 2021 and 2022, but it’s going to be very disappointing if Michigan can’t perform better in the trenches than they did in 2024.

Michigan 19, Alabama 13

Surprise, surprise, surprise! For the second game in a row, almost nobody gave Michigan a chance to win. And for the second game in a row, almost everybody was wrong. The mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, who almost made the College Football Playoff with a 9-3 record, fell to 9-4. And when all is said and done, on paper that’s not far from where Michigan finished at 8-5. Alabama had lost some players to the transfer portal, but Michigan was missing ten starters (Myles Hinton, Colston Loveland, Kalel Mullings, Tyler Morris, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Josaiah Stewart, Will Johnson, Makari Paige, Tommy Doman) and the guy who was on the cover of NCAA ’25 (Donovan Edwards) and still won the game.

Hit the jump for more.

Michigan 27, USC 24

A win is a win. I always try to keep things in perspective. Herm Edwards famously said “You play to win the game,” and Michigan won the game. The Wolverines are 3-1 and their primary goals are still within play: win the Big Ten, beat your rivals, make the College Football Playoff, and win a national championship. Sometimes you win ugly, and sometimes you win pretty. It might help put things in perspective that star tight end Colston Loveland missed the entire game with an arm injury and Will Johnson was absent at the end of the game. This just happened to be an ugly victory, but oh well.

Hit the jump for more.

Michigan vs. Texas Awards

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . running backs carrying the ball. Michigan’s top two running backs, Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings, had just 14 total carries on Saturday. While they were only mildly productive, Michigan needs to commit to the run game to help out inexperienced quarterback Davis Warren. Michigan can’t just run the ball to run the ball, either; the coaches need to find creative ways to get them the ball and help them be successful.

Hit the jump for more.