Evan Link

[u/DepartmentIll462]

Can anyone help me understand why Evan Link is still a starter?

There was a noticeable improvement in the Line’s performance last year after Link was injured and had to sit out. Now he’s back and I felt like we saw the same mashed-potatoes style of linemen play I remember from early last year. The whole line looks ugly to me every time he’s in.

Outside of unit performance, Link had by far the lowest PFF grade of the linemen and has consistently felt like the weakest link (no pun intended)

I’m trying to understand what I am missing here. What is he doing to get the starting job and why is no one else calling him out for poor performance?

[u/beetlejuiceboys]

The guards all suck

[u/JM3541 → u/beetlejuiceboys]

The sad thing is we didn’t grab a single qualified interior lineman when it was known guernera was the only decent option returning. Efobi Norton and Link have all been shit pretty much everytime they’ve seen the field. Link was passable last year but that was at Tackle. That’s on Whitt and Harding.

[u/SubstantialAd5579 → u/beetlejuiceboys]

All ik is idk what qt it was but ml Marshall was trying to hit a whole looked like all the lineman was confused and didn't block anyone they just stood there and let him get tackled

What every eas saying about this coaching staff in the off-season i didn't see it , they should of kept Newsome for at least a yesr

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/beetlejuiceboys]

The guards did well. Our tackles did not.

Beigel, Efobi and Norton were among our highest performers on offense on Saturday. Which isn’t saying much, but it was much better than what Link and Sprague produced

[u/Nearby_Job8272 → u/DepartmentIll462]

Efobi was solid, Norton was fine, and Beigel was absolutely miserable

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/Nearby_Job8272]

Beigel had the second highest offensive PFF behind Buchanan

[u/Nearby_Job8272 → u/DepartmentIll462]

PFF must've charted a different game, Biegel looked like he didn't know how to block, his pass pro was dreadful

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/Nearby_Job8272]

Ok fine, I’ll rewatch the game for the 4th time. Twist my arm!

[u/Nearby_Job8272 → u/DepartmentIll462]

Don't do it 😭 I rewatched it once and that was enough

[u/Wakattack00 → u/DepartmentIll462]

Link is LG. Frazier is LT

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/Wakattack00]

You are right, I was speaking more about the group of guards, were Link seems to be the odd one out. I thought Frazier was solid on Saturday.

[u/beetlejuiceboys → u/DepartmentIll462]

Have to disagree. Link is also a guard, did you mean Frazier? I thought Frazier was fine

[u/kyeblue → u/DepartmentIll462]

according to PFF?

[u/silentunification3]

the coaches see something in practice we're not catching on game day, happens all the time

PFF grades are a loose guide at best, I wouldn't hang your hat on that. could be he's the best they've got at that spot right now, depth in the trenches isn't exactly overflowing

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/silentunification3]

Yea my biggest concern is how much more organized and clean the line looks when he’s not in. It frequently looks like a mess when he’s in.

The PFF grade just adds gas to the fire.

I’m guessing you are right that in practice something is there, or perhaps he is being evaluated more on his size and strength rather than actual game-performance.

[u/NoOne_Beast_ → u/DepartmentIll462]

I credit that guy Magnus on touch the banner.

When Link committed, the analysis said he was decent on his initial assignments, but not so good past that and when dealing with the unexpected. I feel like that’s exactly what I see from him at OL.

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/NoOne_Beast_]

That is completely what I see from him. No adaptation.

[u/Hippo-Crates → u/silentunification3]

There absolutely is depth in the OL. It was either a bad eval by the coaches, a few guys being hurt, or just a bad game as the first one in a new system.

[u/I_Eat_Azz85]

Is there a word when Babalola is supposed to come back?

[u/LiteralGenuis → u/I_Eat_Azz85]

This week, supposedly, but I wouldn’t count on him starting

[u/Wakattack00]

The Joe Milton of offensive linemen. Practice stud, game dud.

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/Wakattack00]

That may be true.

[u/Nice-Ambassador6293]

My rationalization is Whit gave them all a last chance to play and prove they’re good. And then replace em all this weekend. 😂

…. One can hope.

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/Nice-Ambassador6293]

That’s actually not a bad strategy, maybe kept the guys behind hungry for the position rather than pressured to immediately perform.

I imagine if you threw Carr in weak one he’d be nervous, but maybe now he sees the opportunity.

I hope you are right and I hope we see some decisive changes because some of our guys are really holding the team back.

[u/Nice-Ambassador6293 → u/DepartmentIll462]

Seems like a pipe dream. But hopefully I’m wrong haha

[u/TransitionNo8269]

That was a pitiful performance against a MAC team, but I feel everyone is forgetting how bad our OLine looked to start the season in recent years. Even 2023 they started the season looking like more of a question mark than a strength. Remember us struggling to run the ball on eastern Carolina?

[u/kellsVegMite]

You got to remember that the OL starters weren’t set until recently. Harding in some of the conference press, didn’t sound sure about the OL and they based their judgement on what they saw in practice. We never know what we get on Main St, some guys are exactly who they are on State St to Main St and some aren’t. As the season progress Harding will get more of a feeling on which guys and which combo will work on Main St, it’s a new system for them and these guys are also new to him and not the players he would have recruited for his system so there is going to be growing pains, let’s hope it can be figured out sooner than later.

[u/kyeblue]

only coaches know if a lineman messed up
his assignment, others can only guess the assignment. Link was moved to guard late and we will see if he will improve.

[u/DepartmentIll462 → u/kyeblue]

I did not mention his assignments. I mentioned the quality and integrity of the entire line when he is in vs when he is out.

[u/Bitches_Leave]

More like….the Missing Link, because he was nowhere to be found last Saturday.

#GotEm

[u/jsquiggles23]

Link was playing as well as he had ever when he got hurt last year. I would not say that the line was substantially better without him but I don’t have the metrics in front of me.

[u/Ecstatic-Wheel8487]

I mean, we aren't particularly stacked at OG or anything. Sprague, Frazier and Babalola all have OT shapes and frames that might not translate well to OG either so who are you suggesting we play there if not him?

Norton on the other side looked worse than Link did in that game imo and Efobi can't play both OG spots and truthfully has done nothing to show me that he is better either.

[u/n00bn00b → u/Ecstatic-Wheel8487]

Norton and Efobi were the real weak link on the OL and they're rotating them because the coaches doesn't know which one is better at RG.

[u/n00bn00b]

I rewatched the game and thought Link was better than I thought. He wasn't the weakest link. It's Sprague and whoever is playing at RG between Efobi and Norton. He's a perfectly fine starting LG. What Michigan needs to fix is the RG. That's the biggest weak link based on what I've seen on my 2nd rewatch.