Tag: Lawrence Hattar

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.

Lawrence Hattar, Wolverine

Ferris State transfer offensive lineman Lawrence Hattar committed to Michigan.

Hattar was listed at 6’5″ and 335 pounds for Ferris State this past season, his redshirt junior year. He redshirted in 2021, played two games in 2022, then became a starter in 2023 and 2024. He played in all fifteen games this past season as the Bulldogs won a Division II national championship, and he was named a Division II All-American.

Coming out of Livonia (MI) Churchill in 2021, Hattar was a 6’4″, 280-pounder who wasn’t athletic enough for the FBS level. His feet were pretty slow and he tended to lean on people as more of a waist-bender. There’s been significant improvement since then, and Michigan will be getting a fifth-year senior with 27 games of experience, as well as the growth and development that comes along with playing for a multiple-national championship-winning program.

I think Hattar is a good depth piece for the program, but after watching some Ferris State highlights of him starting at left guard this past season, I’m not sure he will rise to the level of a starter. He will be limited to playing on the interior of the offensive line, likely competing for time at left guard, a position Josh Priebe is vacating. At his significant size, he may be able to help out on the extra point/field goal protection units. He does not change direction particularly well to find work on the second level, but his heft and strength could be effective on down blocks and at the point of attack.

Hattar is the second lower-level offensive lineman to pick Michigan, following FCS Cal Poly offensive lineman Brady Norton. While they need to replace left guard Priebe and left tackle Myles Hinton, the coaching staff seems to like rising redshirt sophomore Evan Link and rising redshirt freshman Andrew Sprague; Link was a full-year starter, mostly at right tackle, and Sprague started the bowl game against Alabama at right tackle. The program also signed 5-star offensive tackle Andrew Babalola and is trying to land blue-chip tackle Ty Haywood in February. The biggest question mark is that left guard spot, because Michigan’s next best internal options (Dominick Giudice, Raheem Anderson) transferred, leaving a bunch of totally unproven players.

Michigan has now landed ten transfer commitments for 2025. This is Michigan’s first Division II transfer in my memory. Hattar would be the first player from Churchill to play for Michigan since middle guard Rod Vaughn back in 1978.