Colston Loveland, Will Johnson injury updates, Michigan football looking to stay 'balanced' offensively, more
Michigan Wolverines football was without junior tight end Colston Loveland in Saturday’s 27-24 win over USC. Loveland, who leads the team with 19 receptions and 187 yards, went down with an apparent shoulder injury the previous week versus Arkansas State.
Loveland was “close” to playing against the Trojans.
“Doing a lot better,” head coach Sherrone Moore said at his Monday press conference. “Doctors felt that it would be in the best interest that he not [play]. So we’re in a positive patch right now, so we’ll see.”
On the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show Monday night, Moore gave a further update.
“Trending in a good direction, so we’ll see as the week goes,” he said. “I think he’ll practice a little bit tomorrow, and then we’ll just see whatever the doctors say. But we’re in a good place.”
Michigan saw junior Marlin Klein step in with his first career start against USC. He was targeted 4 times with 1 reception for 10 yards.
“I thought Marlin did a really good job for his debut as a starter,” Moore stated. “He never blinked, never flinched. A couple technique things he’s gotta clean up, but for the most part, especially in the run game, he did a really good job.
“Obviously, having Breddy [senior Max Bredeson] there as a safe thing you have in there, who knows it, who understands it, and he was a tone-setter, like he usually is.”
Michigan junior cornerback Will Johnson received a mid-game x-ray on his shoulder (early in the fourth quarter) that yielded good news. He was cleared to return to the game but was held out. Moore was asked about his status now that Minnesota is on the clock.
“Obviously sore, but nothing structurally done, and he’s in a good place,” Moore said of the Michigan star who had a 42-yard pick-six in the USC game. “He’ll be ready to go.”
Johnson spoke on his injury earlier in the day.
“It was good to know I didn’t break anything or anything like that, so just taking it day by day from here and see where it ends up,” the 6-foot-2, 202-pounder said.
Sherrone Moore on Michigan’s smash-mouth mindset, staying ‘balanced’
On the first play of the game against USC, Michigan ran an isolation play on which senior running back Donovan Edwards picked up 5 yards. Those were the first 5 of 290 rushing yards on the afternoon, and head coach Sherrone Moore said on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show that the Wolverines started with that for a reason.
“You saw the holes and you heard the pads, and that was part of our reasoning for going for it on fourth down the first time,” Moore said.
Michigan rolled the dice on 4th and less than a yard, sneaking junior quarterback Alex Orji up the middle to move the chains.
“When you do that, the kids look at you like, ‘OK, you’re riding. You’re with us,'” Moore explained. “And they felt the confidence, so I thought those guys on offense did a good job.”
With Orji making his first career at quarterback, Michigan ran the ball 46 times compared to 12 passes. The Trojans knew the Wolverines were going to pound the rock but still had trouble stopping it.
Graduate running back Kalel Mullings ripped off a 53-yard touchdown and had a crucial 65-yard run to set up the go-ahead score (a 1-yard run by Mullings himself), and Edwards also had a 41-yard touchdown strike.
“It’s a mindset,” Moore said of the first play of the game and running even when the Trojans expected it. “I go back to in 2022, we played Penn State here, and I think they were the No. 1 rush defense. I showed the O-line the segment of [his Team USA teammates] talking about [late former basketball star] Kobe Bryant, he knew [Spain’s] Pau Gasol was going to screen him on the first play and he was going to run through his face. And he didn’t care if he knew that he was going to do it.
“That was kind of the mindset we had. It was kinda the same play we ran on Saturday. You like to set a tempo and a mindset for those guys, especially up front. If they can get that first hit and feel like they’re the aggressor, it usually provides some confidence for them the rest of the game.”
As for Mullings’ mindset, taking over the game with 159 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries, the Michigan head coach was impressed.
“I mean, he’s an absolute beast,” Moore said. “He played like a man possessed. All of the runs were really good. Every time he touched the ball, it felt like it might break, it might go.
“And then that last run he had before the touchdown — the long one — that’s going to go down as one of the best runs in Michigan history. That was a Michigan legend run that he had.”
Moore was asked how the Michigan staff will balance wanting to feed Mullings but also spread the ball around.
“At the end of the day, we’re just going to try to do whatever we can to win,” the first-year head coach said. “For a guy like that, obviously you can see the ability that he has, so you gotta get him the ball, you gotta feed him.
“But we also gotta stay balanced, because just like they did in the third quarter, they’re going to do things to try to take him away, take Donovan away, take the run game away. So we gotta make sure we stay balanced as an offense.”
The Wolverines threw for only 32 yards, their lowest amount since 1987, but Moore insists that Michigan will look to get more usage and production out of the passing game going forward.
“We’re definitely going to stay balanced,” he noted. “You saw that [Orji] can throw, and he can throw the ball down field. He can throw the short game. He had a lot of touch on the balls that he needed to.
“For us, we’re just going to try to keep people off balance in any way possible. But if we have to run the ball to win the game, that’s what we’ll do. We’ve proved that formula has worked, and we’ll do whatever we have to do to win.”
