Michigan football picks up Northwestern offensive lineman Josh Priebe from transfer portal

LOS ANGELES — Michigan football expects to lose quite a bit of talent along the offensive line this offseason and is already in the process of replacing it.

The Wolverines picked up their second incoming transfer for the 2024 season on Thursday morning when Northwestern offensive lineman Josh Priebe announced his commitment via social media.

“Excited for the next chapter!” the post read. “Go Blue!!”

Priebe, who attended Edwardsburg High School in Michigan, is the second player from the Big Ten to join Michigan, along with former Maryland linebacker Jaishawn Barham. Michigan is now even between outgoing and incoming transfers, with only two players (CJ Stokes and Sam Staruch) entering the portal before the College Football Playoff.

In his four seasons at Northwestern, Priebe, listed at 6 foot 5 and 310 pounds, made appearances in at least eight games every year at guard, including as a starter for his final three seasons in Evanston. Priebe did not redshirt while at Northwestern, meaning he has one year of eligibility remaining, due to the NCAA's COVID-19 waiver.

His best season came this past fall; he was named third-team All-Big Ten at guard by the media and coaches this season.

A Niles native, Priebe was a three-star recruit coming out of high school, but chose Northwestern over a handful of Big Ten offers, including one from U-M, according 247 Sports. He was a part of Edwardsburg’s 2018 Division 4 state championship team, which ranks second all-time in MHSAA history for most touchdowns in a season (97).

Michigan has added several offensive linemen through the portal in recent years: Olusegun Oluwatimi (Virginia) was named the nation's top center last season, and Myles Hinton (Stanford), LaDarius Henderson (Arizona State) and Drake Nugent (Stanford) have been key parts of this year's line.

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Priebe should help bring experience to a new-look Wolverines offensive line in 2024.

The Wolverines will lose both of their starting guards (Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter) to graduation, and also expect some combination of Nugent and the four tackles — Karsen Barnhart, Trente Jones, Henderson and Hinton — to be on the move as well.

Giovanni El-Hadi and Jeffrey Persi would be the leading candidates to take over at guard next season.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Northwestern OL Josh Priebe transferring to Michigan football