I'm excited to see what Nix will do against the inexperienced interior line. Michigan is replacing both Guards and the Center with guys that have zero career starts and only 6 appearances combined. Yes they have some talent, but replacing the entire interior line with that level of inexperience will certainly come with some growing pains. I expect that Nix will do his best to ensure that he inflicts his share of growing pains during that game.
Michigan's interior OL will no doubt struggle early on I think. Especially against players like Nix and Tuitt, who are some of the best in the country at their positions. The set of tackles is as solid as any in the country though with a pair of fifth year seniors in Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield.
I believe the talent level on the interior is upgrading, but these guys are all very green and will be bound to make rookie mistakes, especially early on. Kyle Kalis, Ben Braden, and Chris Bryant are battling for 2 guard spots. RS Freshman Kyle Kalis is 6'5, 304 pounds and is a throw back Michigan type linemen, he was also a 5* recruit. RS Sophomore Chris Bryant is even bigger coming in at 6'4, 325 pounds (he came into the program at like 350) and he is said to be the strongest run blocker on the team, but he is coming off injuries though and has never started a game. RS Freshman Ben Braden is 6'6, 322 pounds and while his future is definitely at tackle he might prove to be too good to keep off the field this year.
These guys are really inexperienced but they are bigger, more talented, and better fits than guys like Ricky Barnum and Patrick Omameh, who were 230-240 pounds coming out of high school and 280-290 pounds in college and were recruited to play in a different type of offensive system. Hoke and Borges want to run power and to do that they need interior linemen that can blow defenders off the ball and they need backs that can break tackles and run between the tackles.
Michigan's guards struggled much of last year, and I think the guards this year will struggle early on, especially against ND (which is why I think they probably lose to ND) but by the end of the season they could wind up being phenomenal. Kalis, Braden, and Bryant all have really good upside.