Michigan football's starting left tackle next season is likely to be Myles Hinton if everything pans out as expected. The 6-foot-6 lineman has been working hard to trim down, estimating himself to be in the "high 320s, low 330s," a significant drop from the 340 pounds he played at last year. He aims to maintain this weight when the season kicks off in late August. His physique aligns perfectly with the expectations of his new position coach, Grant Newsome, who couldn't contain his excitement the day before.
Newsome praised Hinton, saying, "Any time you have a guy who looks like that and moves like that and has the ability that he does, we always say that God doesn’t make too many people look like that and have that ability. He’s got all the ability in the world. I think he’s a guy who, potential-wise, has all the ability to be the next great first-round tackle at the University of Michigan. Now it’s on myself, his coaches, and on him to make that happen."
When asked how it feels to receive such high praise, Hinton visibly shuddered. The John's Creek, Georgia, native is tired of hearing about what could be or should be. When he transferred to Ann Arbor from Stanford last year, there was potential for him to secure a starting tackle spot and then head to the NFL, similar to the path LaDarius Henderson took. However, things didn't go as planned. Hinton made one start at left tackle and four at right before losing favor to Henderson and two more experienced players, Karsen Barnhart and Trente Jones.
Hinton has faced setbacks throughout his journey. The younger brother of former U-M defensive tackle Chris Hinton Jr., Myles was a highly-rated four-star prospect out of high school, ranked as the No. 6 offensive tackle in 2020 by the 247Sports Composite rankings. He chose Stanford, where he started at left tackle as a freshman but moved to right tackle as a sophomore due to shoulder problems.
Regarding the praise he receives, Hinton said, "Personally, when I hear stuff like that, I'm like, aghhh. I don't want to hear like 'oh, how good you could be.' I just want to do me and if doing me gets me that good, then it does. Of course, I want to be the best player I can be, but I feel like if I harp too much on it, it's an extra stressor, I'm playing tense. So just playing it cool, that's kind of the vibe of the year."
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