Tag: Tristan Bounds

2024 Spring Football Preview: Offensive Line

2023 Starters: LT La’Darius Henderson, LG Trevor Keegan, C Drake Nugent, RG Zak Zinter, RT Karsen Barnhart
Losses: Barnhart (NFL), Henderson (NFL), Trente Jones (NFL), Keegan (NFL), Nugent (NFL), Zinter (NFL)
Returning players: Myles Hinton (RS Sr.), Jeffrey Persi (RS Sr.), Raheem Anderson (RS Jr.), Tristan Bounds (RS Jr.), Greg Crippen (RS Jr.), Giovanni El-Hadi (RS Jr.), Dominic Giudice (RS Jr.), Andrew Gentry (RS So.), Connor Jones (RS So.), Nathan Efobi (RS Fr.), Amir Herring (RS Fr.), Evan Link (RS Fr.)
Newcomers: Josh Priebe (RS Sr.), Blake Frazier (Fr.), Jake Guarnera (Fr.)
Projected starters: LT Hinton, LG El-Hadi, C Crippen, RG Priebe, RT Persi

Michigan went from having a terrible offensive line under Brady Hoke to a decent offensive line at the beginning of the Harbaugh era to one of the best in the country at the end of Harbaugh’s tenure. In two of Harbaugh’s final three seasons, Michigan won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the country; in the third season, they lost the award but won a national championship. And now most of the key pieces to those awards and accomplishments are either in the NFL or heading there soon.

Much like the quarterback position, nobody really has a great idea of how the position group will shake out. Will it be as good as it was in 2021-2023? That’s unlikely. Could it still be a solid conglomeration? Sure. Four of the starters above (Hinton, El-Hadi, Crippen, and Persi) were 4-star prospects or better, and the only 3-star (Priebe) is a multi-year starter coming from Northwestern. Furthermore, they are all veteran players in at least their fourth year of college.

At offensive tackle, Hinton started one-third of the season before ceding his spot to Barnhart in 2023, so he seems like the most likely to start. On the right side, it could be a battle between Persi and Gentry. Both have looked somewhat rough in limited time, but Persi has two years of experience on Gentry, whose footwork still looked pretty sloppy in 2023.

At the guard positions, El-Hadi is another player who has some starting experience a couple seasons ago as an injury fill-in, so he seems likely to slide right in this season. Priebe is a veteran starting presence who should be able to fend off most contenders, if not all of them.

Word coming out of Ann Arbor about Crippen has been that he’s a potential All-American, but he’s just been blocked by two really good players in Olu Oluwatimi and Nugent over the past couple years. I have some doubts because I’m not sure why the coaching staff would recruit over him if he was that good, but he’s also two years older now than he was when Oluwatimi swooped in, so perhaps his improvement in that time has been significant.

Despite losing six offensive linemen to the draft, Michigan goes into spring with 15 other scholarship linemen on the roster. That’s somewhat mind-boggling to consider, since a team might have carried just 13 linemen a few years ago. In that bygone era of like 2019, we would be looking at 7 returning players and 6 true freshmen arriving sporadically in January and then June. Instead, there are 12 returning players, a transfer, and 2 early enrollee freshmen available for the spring, not to mention further reinforcements arriving this summer.

Some projected backups to keep an eye on are Raheem Anderson, who was reportedly ahead of Crippen early in their careers but has since appeared to be more of a factor at guard; Gentry, who could potentially start at tackle over Persi; and Herring, who’s a powerful offensive guard option that looked good in the spring game in 2023. Aside from Gentry possibly starting, Anderson and Herring are almost certainly backups for this season. Another players I’ll also be watching closely is Tristan Bounds, a behemoth of a player whose balance has been questionable in limited field time.

2023 Season Countdown: #76 Tristan Bounds

Name: Tristan Bounds
Height: 6’8″
Weight: 311 lbs.
High school: Wallingford (CT) Choate Rosemary Hall
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #72
Last year: I ranked Bounds #75 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He played in three games.
TTB Rating: 82

Bounds came to college in 2021 with a lot of developmental work to be done, not only on his technique but on his body. An extremely tall lineman, he was athletic but relatively thin for his position. Last season Michigan had three starting-caliber players at the tackle positions (Ryan Hayes, Karsen Barnhart, Trente Jones), so he wasn’t going to be needed, anyway, but he was listed at 282 pounds, which was still way too light to play.

This year Bounds is up to 311, which is almost 30 pounds of additional weight. The crazy thing is that when it came to the spring game, he still looked very thin. If he was 311 in the spring, he probably needs to be 325 before he looks the part. On top of that, Michigan once again has at least three starting-caliber tackles: even with the loss of Hayes to the NFL, there’s now Barnhart, Jones, and Arizona State transfer La’Darius Henderson. Add in Jeffrey Persi and Andrew Gentry (who could also play guard) and there are at least six guys with great potential, though they’re not all ready to play. Bounds still has a lot of technical work to be done and needs consistency, so he’s a deep backup who might be able to work onto the field goal/extra point protection unit, but that’s about it except for blowouts.

Prediction: Backup offensive tackle

Thoughts on 2023 Spring Game

Okay, it’s time to put some thoughts about the spring game on paper.

QUARTERBACK: We know what J.J. McCarthy brings to the table, and Michigan was never going to let him factor into the run game, so whatever. This comes down to thoughts on the backups. After watching Michigan have a good 1-2 punch the past two years with McCarthy and Cade McNamara, there is a big question mark at the #2 quarterback spot in 2023. I thought redshirt sophomore Davis Warren once again outplayed the competition, which comes from Alex Orji and Indiana transfer Jack Tuttle. Tuttle had a couple decent throws and showed some decent athleticism on the run, but Warren is more accurate and probably a better decision maker, despite the fact that Tuttle is a sixth-year player. Orji has decent arm strength but leaves something to be desired when it comes to his timing and accuracy; running is the best part of his game, and he’s a change-up guy. I would put him at #4 on the depth chart.

Hit the jump for more.

2022 Season Countdown: #75 Tristan Bounds

Name: Tristan Bounds
Height: 6’8″
Weight: 282 lbs.
High school: Wallingford (CT) Choate Rosemary Hall
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #72
Last year: I ranked Bounds #88 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game.
TTB Rating: 82

Bounds was a 3-star prospect coming out of high school who was 6’8″ and needed to add a significant amount of weight before contributing. He played in one game in 2021 against Northern Illinois, a game in which Mary Sue Coleman caught 1 pass for a 52-yard touchdown. So not much can be gleaned from that.

For better or worse, there has not been much buzz about backup offensive tackles this off-season. But aside from starter Ryan Hayes, presumed starter Trente Jones, and utility guy Karsen Barnhart, it seems to be a crap shoot. Bounds and redshirt sophomore Jeffrey Persi would presumably be the next two guys in the mix, and I would guess that one of them – Persi, in this case – will start getting some noteworthy snaps this season to prepare for a potential role in 2023 when Ryan Hayes has moved on to the NFL. Hopefully Bounds has made some good strides this off-season so he can compete for a role.

Prediction: Backup offensive tackle

2021 Season Countdown: #88 Tristan Bounds

Name: Tristan Bounds
Height: 6’8″
Weight: 305 lbs.
High school: Wallingford (CT) Choate Rosemary Hall
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Bounds was a senior in high school (LINK). His season was canceled due to COVID.
TTB Rating: 82

Bounds was one of those pesky recruits from the northeastern part of the United States that Michigan fans begrudgingly thought, “He’s a dang 3-star! But…well…he’s 6’8″ and kinda mean. Okay, we accept.” Bounds was the #35 offensive tackle and #416 in the class. The more I watch and learn about him, I think he will fit in well at Michigan. He seems intelligent but also hardworking and nasty. Add those traits to a guy who’s 6’8″, 305 lbs., and decently athletic, and it’s hard to project failure.

My experience with very large humans at Michigan is that they tend to be good. Taylor Lewan, Jake Long, Grant Newsome, Ben Braden, Mark Ortmann, Perry Dorrestein, etc. are all very tall men who performed pretty well. The last two weren’t great, but if those guys are the floor – and Bounds is more athletic than both – then I think it’s fair to expect something somewhere between Ortmann and Lewan, where the likes of Newman and Braden reside.

Will he get on the field this year? I think it’s unlikely. Michigan has some pretty good depth on the offensive line; as long as there are no ridiculous injury issues, Bounds should be able to redshirt.