Michigan’s Evan Link Unleashes Unexpected Edge at Left Tackle—Could 2025 Be His Breakout Year?
It’s funny how sometimes the toughest challenges come from simply playing where you belong — or not. Take Michigan’s offensive lineman Evan Link: a guy who’s worn the left tackle hat since forever, from high school all the way through his early days at Ann Arbor. Yet, in 2024, he found himself thrown to the right side of the line, a spot that didn’t quite feel like home. The results? Well, let’s just say the Wolverines’ usually dominant front wasn’t exactly turning heads last season, and Link’s shift had a lot to do with that rough patch. But when bowl season rolled around, and Link slipped back into his natural left tackle groove against Alabama — bam — it all clicked. Sure, facing the Crimson Tide brought its own brand of chaos, with defensive plays Link had never seen before, but the comfort of rolling on his native side shone through. As spring ball concludes and fall camp looms, the bigger question is: can Michigan’s line recapture that old swagger and menace opponents the way they used to? Link sure thinks so, and man, with the right lineup, the Wolverines are poised to make their trenches roar again.
- Michigan offensive lineman Evan Link struggled playing right tackle during the 2024 season but excelled upon returning to his natural left tackle position in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
- Link found playing left tackle against Alabama easier and more familiar, despite facing unusual defensive schemes.
- He believes the offensive line needs to regain its confidence and dominant reputation for the upcoming season.
In spring ball, Link acknowledged some of his struggles a year ago, but how the Ohio State game gave him some confidence. But Alabama also threw a lot of things at him that he had never seen before.Michigan has wrapped up spring ball and fall camp will start in August, with eyes on the August 30 season opener against New Mexico.
“I think for us, it’s really just getting back to that confidence and swagger, right?” Link said. “People gotta know when we roll into town, it’s gonna be a problem, right? And I don’t think we had that last year. So part of it’s just getting back that, I’m saying that juice.”
The Alabama game still had some challenges
Despite having played his entire career at left tackle, from high school up to his freshman season in Ann Arbor, Evan Link started every game he appeared in — except for the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama — at right tackle. For Link, that was a big adjustment, one that he never quite fully acclimated to. But once he went up against the Crimson Tide at his native left tackle, it was a much easier proposition for him.
“In all honesty, it was a lot easier than actually playing right,” Link told Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches Podcast. “I’ve been playing it for the whole year, but I grew up playing left, right? My entire freshman year — as soon as you get back into it, it’s like, oh yeah, I remember how to do this. Like, it feels pretty good. But yeah, no, getting to play left was definitely an honor just because (of the prestige of it at this university), what left tackles have done, right? And what that means.”After two Joe Moore Awards and then a national championship season, the Michigan football offensive line went back to the drawing board. In 2024, the Wolverines’ front wasn’t exactly blowing defenders off the ball, but some of that might have been due to one player who struggled playing a bit out of position.
That doesn’t mean that the game against the Crimson Tide wasn’t without some challenges.
Can the Michigan OL return to dominance?
“So a lot of it was really just adjusting to the random stuff they were throwing at us, just because there was a whole lot of stuff that you wouldn’t normally do, but they were doing it anyway, just because I knew we were gonna be running the ball. So they tried to stop it, but I mean, it still got through them. But really, I know it was really just adjusting whatever was thrown at me, because the past part of that game was a breeze, if I’m being honest. That wasn’t anything crazy, and it turned out well.”
Now, Link is feeling confident being back in his natural position, but it will be incumbent upon the entire starting five — which isn’t set in stone — to get back to being the offensive line that Michigan football is known for having. Once that happens, then the ethos of the Wolverine offense will be back to where it should be, Link says.
“That Alabama game was, there was some stuff they were doing, and it was just like, what is going on, right?” Link said. “It was like first-and-10. It’s like double-mug, and we’re trying to run the ball. I’m like, never seen this before in my life. Like, what am I doing here?
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