Michigan fans have been restless about Andrew Sprague’s absence, but Jake Guarnera made one thing clear on Wednesday: the chatter about the offensive tackle “quitting” has no place.
Guarnera went out of his way to shut down the speculation he’s seen floating around online, and he didn’t sound interested in dancing around it.
"I see all this stuff online like people saying all kinds of things. He's got stuff going on, and he can explain it if he wants to, but he's still with the team, still doing great and helping us out. He's never quit on us,"
Sprague has been out since the Oklahoma game, leaving a hole in a line that expected more from him this season. The 6-foot-8 tackle entered the year as one of the more intriguing pieces up front after starting at right tackle during a strong sophomore season as a redshirt freshman.
He came to Michigan as a top-150 recruit out of Missouri, and the assumption was that he’d be a fixture on the offensive line. Instead, he’s been sidelined since Week 3 for reasons the program hasn’t explained publicly.
Kyle Whittingham said this week that Sprague won’t be back anytime soon, and the official injury report for the Penn State game listed him as out. Even so, the message around the program remains that this is not a case of a player walking away from the team.
Whittingham hasn’t spelled out the issue, though he did indicate the doctors believe they have it figured out. The source of the problem wasn’t an on-field injury.
That’s why Guarnera’s defense mattered. It wasn’t just a teammate protecting another teammate. It was a direct pushback against the rumor mill that tends to spin out when a player disappears from the lineup.
There’s also a practical side to this. If Sprague does come back, Michigan’s offensive line gets better.
His return could even create movement elsewhere, with Evan Link potentially sliding inside if Blake Frazier shifts to left tackle. For now, though, Andrew Babalola is listed as questionable for Saturday.
He practiced last week and again this week, which at least suggests his situation is moving in the right direction.
For Michigan, that would be a welcome development. It might also ease some of the attention on Sprague, who appears to be dealing with something he can’t simply play through - and who, according to his teammate, has never left the team behind.
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