The Michigan football offensive line has three surefire starters at this juncture — left guard Giovanni El-Hadi, center Greg Crippen, and right tackle Andrew Sprague. All three started in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama, but the other two spots are somewhat up for grabs.
As the Wolverines seek the ‘best five,’ there’s one tackle position and one guard position, and several contenders. Evan Link started against the Crimson Tide at left tackle and while he’s the odds-on favorite to reprise that role, he’s also practiced at guard this spring. But Nathan Efobi also worked there and the expectation is that Lawrence Hattar — the Ferris State transfer — will also get that opportunity. That leaves Brady Norton, the Cal Poly transfer, as the other option at tackle, especially if Link moves inside.
But there’s been consternation from the Michigan fanbase on Norton, primarily because he’s thought to be undersized. However, he told Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches Podcast that that’s not the case.
“Yeah, they say I’m 6-3, 275. I’m not 6-3, 275,” Norton said. “I’m 6-4.5, around 315 right now. So they got that all wrong.
“I see people, you know, on Twitter complaining. He’s like, oh, he’s only 275, he’s too small. That was my freshman year at Poly’s height and weight when I first got there. But definitely want to add a little bit more weight. I want to get a little more weight in my trunk, my legs, you know what I mean? I’m a decently strong guy in the weight room, but just a little bit of that, and making sure I’m just super locked in the playbook. So if I have everything down, and I don’t have to think about the play, I can play so much more confidently, so much more physical, so much more smarter. I do so say, so definitely those aspects is what I’m kind of going into.”
It’s been something of a learning process for Norton coming to Ann Arbor from Cal Poly. Not only is the college bigger, the facilities better, but the competition in practice is much steeper.
Still, Norton feels like he’s acclimating well to everything but the weather in Ann Arbor, and once the season comes, the Orange County, California native will be that much better for it.
“Obviously, the guys, you know what I mean, coming from the FCS, I didn’t go against crazy talent,” Norton said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of hidden gem guys. I had a guy in my old school who was actually going to the league who played defensive end, went against him every practice. I gave him a huge shout-out for making me a lot better.
“But guys like Derrick Moore, TJ Guy, Cameron Brandt, Dominic Nichols, going against them just every practice, it was tough for the first two, but once I adjusted, once I was able to play my ball more confidently, I was able to compete, and they’ve made me so much better.”
While Norton didn’t have the most impressive showing in the April 19 spring game, there is some solace in that the line he faced was arguably the best he’d see all season. Still, there’s an entire summer conditioning period and fall camp that he’ll have to fight for a starting role in 2025.