- Position
- OL
- Number
- #65
- Pieces here
- 25
On the record
Called Shots →Michigan has not publicly identified all five offensive line starters by name and position on or before August 22, 2026.
Andrew Babalola is not one of the five offensive linemen who start Michigan's September 5 opener against Western Michigan.
Between September 6 and the kickoff of Michigan's September 12 game against Oklahoma, Kyle Whittingham states on the record that at least one named Michigan player will not play in that game, or is out, unavailable or doubtful for it. No conference availability report is required for this game.
Evan Link, Nathan Efobi and Brady Norton all appear in Michigan's September 12, 2026 game against Oklahoma, as listed in the official participation report.
Evan Link is one of the five offensive linemen who start Michigan's September 19, 2026 game against UTEP, as listed in Michigan's official Player Participation release for that game.
Andrew Babalola plays at least one snap for Michigan in the October 17, 2026 game against Penn State. Scored off Michigan Athletics' official box score participation list.
Written about him
Penn State allowed six 20-yard runs in a night, and Michigan has one all season
Michigan (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) hosts Penn State (3-3, 0-3) at Michigan Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS. DraftKings has Michigan by 6.5 with a total of 42.5 at 8:13 a.m. Eastern, which splits to about Michigan 24.5, Penn State 18. Michigan has one run of 20 yards or more in five games, Bryce Underwood's 38-yard touchdown against Oklahoma; its running backs have 111 carries and a longest of 17. Penn State allowed six runs of 20 or more to Northwestern and none to Wisconsin or USC. Rocco Becht is 59 of 102 for 646 yards in three Big Ten games, 6.3 a throw, after 11.7 against Marshall, Temple and Buffalo. Penn State lists receiver Koby Howard Out; he has 344 receiving yards, all of them in non-conference games. Michigan lists Andrew Sprague and Ace Hamilton Out and Jake Guarnera, Brady Norton, Andrew Babalola, Dom Nichols and John Henry Daley Questionable. Prediction: Michigan 20, Penn State 13.
Three of Michigan's five starting linemen are on the Penn State injury report
Michigan's initial Big Ten availability report for Saturday's game against Penn State, filed Wednesday, October 14, lists 14 players, six of them offensive linemen. Jake Guarnera, who started at center at Minnesota, and Brady Norton, another Minnesota starter, are Questionable; Nathan Efobi, a third starter, is Probable. Evan Link and Blake Frazier are not listed. Andrew Sprague is Out, the first time Michigan has opened a week with him at Out rather than Questionable, and Ace Hamilton is Out. Andrew Babalola, Out on all eight of his earlier designations this season, is Questionable. Manuel Beigel, Out on game day at Minnesota, is off the report, which makes him Available under the conference rule. In Michigan's two earlier conference weeks, ten Wednesday Questionable designations ended with three Outs on game day, all three of them offensive linemen; the six non-linemen all finished Available and the fourth lineman, Houston Ka'aha'aina-Torres, was a Game Time Decision who played. One take filed.
Whittingham changed one starter on Monday, and it was the punt returner
Kyle Whittingham said at his Monday press conference on October 12 that Bryce Underwood remains Michigan's starting quarterback and Jason Beck remains the play-caller for Saturday's game against Penn State. The only personnel change he announced was at punt returner, where Andrew Marsh, who has lost fumbles against Western Michigan and Minnesota, will be replaced for reasons Whittingham said include injury. Right tackle Andrew Sprague, out since the UTEP game, will miss several more weeks; Whittingham said his return is \"way out there.\" Andrew Babalola returned to practice Monday for the first time in about a month, by Whittingham's count. Whittingham said more linemen hurt at Minnesota will be questionable on Wednesday's availability report. Michigan is 3-2 and 0-2 in the Big Ten, its first 0-2 conference start since 2014, with a turnover margin of minus 4; Underwood has thrown 4 interceptions and lost 2 fumbles. Tommy Carr took first-team reps in the bye and could get a series or two. Penn State, 3-3 and 0-3, visits Michigan Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on October 17.
Minnesota's blitz got seven sacks at Washington and one against Mississippi State
Michigan (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) plays Minnesota (3-1, 1-0) at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis at noon Eastern on Fox. DraftKings has Michigan by 6.5 with a total of 43.5 at 8:12 a.m. Eastern, down from an open of 8.5 and 44.5. Minnesota blitzed on 33.9% of snaps in MGoBlog's chart of its win at Washington, where it had seven sacks; against Mississippi State's quarterback it had one and lost 38-13. Michigan lists eight players Out, four of them offensive linemen including Andrew Sprague, Manuel Beigel and Andrew Babalola. Receiver Andrew Marsh and defensive ends Dom Nichols and John Henry Daley are Questionable. Prediction: Michigan 24, Minnesota 16.
Iowa has one ranked team left to play, and Michigan has four
Michigan is 3-1 and 0-1 in the Big Ten after losing 20-19 to Iowa, and is out of the AP Top 25 for the second time this season: 54 points, sixth among the teams outside the 25, down from 18th and 432. The coaches have it 24th with 166 points. The three teams Michigan has beaten are a combined 5-7 and none is ranked. Six Big Ten teams are in the AP poll: Ohio State 5th, Indiana 6th, Iowa 14th, Oregon 15th, USC 18th and UCLA 23rd. Michigan still plays four of them, Indiana and UCLA at home and Oregon and Ohio State on the road, worth 3,816 AP points, the most left on any of those seven teams' schedules. Iowa has one ranked opponent left, Ohio State at home on Saturday, and holds the head-to-head tiebreak over Michigan. In the two seasons of an 18-team Big Ten, the four title-game berths went to teams that were 9-0, 8-1, 9-0 and 9-0 in conference play, and two other 8-1 teams stayed home. In the two seasons of a 12-team playoff, none of the 14 at-large bids went to a team with three regular-season losses, and four of the eight 10-2 teams in the committee's final top 16 that were not conference champions and did not play a title game got in. Three of Michigan's four ranked opponents come in its last four games, after the committee's first ranking on November 3. Andrew Babalola is due back at practice next week, Andrew Sprague's status is unresolved after two missed games, and John Henry Daley was hurt on the second-to-last play against Iowa. Michigan plays at Minnesota on Saturday at noon Eastern on Fox.
Michigan is 19th, and the team it beat to get there is 24th
Michigan returned to the AP Top 25 at 19th with 382 points, having gone 2-0 with a win over then-11th Oklahoma. It was 16th with 718 points in the preseason ballot, so the same voters now give it 53% of the support it carried in August. Oklahoma dropped 13 places to 24th, which lowers the value of the only ranked win Michigan owns. The schedule ahead moved further than Michigan did: Ohio State lost 24-23 at Texas and fell from 1st to 6th, Oregon lost 39-31 at Oklahoma State and fell from 6th to 21st, and Minnesota lost 38-13 at home to Mississippi State. The five ranked teams left on Michigan's schedule were worth 5,524 AP points last week and are worth 4,280 now, a loss of 1,244 points in a week Michigan played none of them. Ohio State sits 6th at 1-1, ahead of 16 teams ranked below it that have not lost. There is no College Football Playoff ranking until November. Michigan hosts UTEP on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Big Ten Network, with Evan Link and Carter Meadows both expected back and Andrew Babalola out.
Michigan Has Played Eight Of The Nineteen Offensive Linemen On Its Roster
Michigan beat eleventh-ranked Oklahoma 17-10 on September 12 with an offensive line that its own Player Participation release lists one deep at every position. Evan Link, the opening-day left guard, is not on that document anywhere, and nobody said why until Kyle Whittingham's Monday press conference, where he said the staff shuffled the lineup due to injury and nothing else. Link should return this week and may share left guard with Nathan Efobi. Andrew Babalola, a five-star who has still never played a college snap, had a setback and will not be available in the near future. Michigan lists nineteen offensive linemen. Eight have taken an offensive snap.
Western Michigan Won 10 Games And A Conference Title. Michigan Is Favored By 27.5.
Michigan opens the season at home against a Western Michigan team that finished 2025 at 10-4, beat Miami (OH) 23-13 at Ford Field for the MAC title and won the Myrtle Beach Bowl by 35. Across 14 games the Broncos allowed 17.4 points a game. Michigan finished 9-4 and allowed 20.4 across 13. The market still says 27.5. Andrew Babalola, the sixth lineman in the package Jason Beck brought from Utah, is out. Whittingham ruled him out Monday and said he is still on the shelf.
Michigan Would Not Name Its Two Starting Guards Because Three Seniors Are Going To Split The Job
Michigan's offensive coordinator held his final press conference before the opener on Wednesday afternoon and was asked the question that has followed this offensive line since camp opened. Jason Beck answered it with a number rather than a name. Evan Link, Nathan Efobi and Brady Norton will all play at the two guard spots, at what Beck called fairly similar snaps, and Clayton Sayfie of On3 reported that the rotation may hold for more than one game. The three tackles-and-center jobs are settled: Blake Frazier on the left, Jake Guarnera at center, Andrew Sprague on the right, the last of those hardened by Andrew Babalola's injury. Michigan's own roster still lists nineteen men as OL and nothing else, while it breaks the defensive line into ends and tackles, and on Wednesday the defensive coordinator named starters at both.