Michigan football: Ron Bellamy compares three current wideouts to former Wolverine stars

Michigan football’s wide receiver room is projected to be a strength this year, but without a current breakout star known. The return of Ronnie Bell adds a veteran, productive presence to the room, but there could be so much more to unlock.

One of the pieces that should factor majorly into the puzzle is sophomore wideout Andrel Anthony. Anthony played in 12 games last season, catching 12 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. The bulk of that production came in his former stomping grounds – East Lansing, Michigan – with six catches, 155 yards and two scores against the rival Michigan State Spartans.

“I’ve known about Andrel in high school,” wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy said on Tuesday. “I’ve been following him since he was in high school to where he is today, and one of the biggest things with Andrel, he’s understanding the game of football. He challenges himself to do everything right, from not only just being a vertical threat or a guy that just flashes athleticism. He wants to know the ins and outs of the game. Andrel wants to know, how can he be a more dominant blocker.”

In Bellamy’s office at Michigan, he has photographs of former Michigan teammates Steve Breaston, Jason Avant, Marquise Walker, David Terrell and Braylon Edwards. He uses it as a teaching tool for the legacy of Michigan wideouts and guys he played with. Anthony has taken a shine to one.

“He wants to emulate Braylon, the things that Braylon’s done on the field and if you look at it they’re very similar — body structure — I can obviously share stories because I played with Braylon for two years and just how brilliant he attacked the game and Andrel wants to add that to his game.”

Bellamy compares other wideouts to former Michigan stars

Another reporter asked who the Breaston of the group is on the current Michigan roster. Bell was the name that came up at first consideration.

“Ronnie has a little Steve Breaston in him,” Bellamy said. “Very slippery, deceiving. I tease him, Steve had that awkward running, but he always runs away from you, and he’s hard to tackle and Ronnie’s the same way. Steve’s probably a little taller than Ronnie but very savvy football players that are deceptive with their speed and elusiveness.

Freshman wideout Darrius Clemons – a four-star recruit and the No. 76 player in the country per On3 – has been one of the stars of the offseason. Bellamy was able to compare him to a former Michigan teammate in Jason Avant.

“[Clemons is] not as polished as Jason, but he will be,” Bellamy said. “He’s the guy that [will say] ‘Coach, watch this!’ He’s a bigger guy, 210 [pounds] and now he’s strong as an ox, is explosive and he loves contact. Jason was like that. Jason and I played together here and as Jason was learning how to be a receiver before he was catching passes and running routes, Jason was the guy that would dig the safeties out, go block linebackers, kind of do the dirty work, per se.

“Darrius is that guy that says, ‘Coach put me in, I don’t care if it’s to block, put me in.’ No, he’s that guy right now that kind of carries that torch and it’s pretty cool for a young guy to kind of carry that torch and the guys know about Jason, as well. He spoke to the team and they’ve seen videos of Jason, so D.C. is that guy right now.”

Keeping everyone happy

Michigan knows it has a lot of skill players and not enough opportunity to go around. It is content to let guys compete for their role with the best players seeing the field. But there is typically plenty of attention around the wide receiver position and those guys want the football.

So how will Michigan deal with divvying up the snaps?

“We compete,” Bellamy said. “What I know about Michigan football and the wide receivers, we’ve always been loaded. This has been a position that has great history, great tradition. You don’t have to be the starter to compete, right? You want to get on the football field? Whatever you have to do. If your role is blocking, if you are a deep ball guy, if you are gonna move to chain, whatever it may be, you compete your butt off and you try to get the opportunity to play on the football field. But our guys have that understanding that the best players will play and the guys who do things well get an opportunity to showcase what they can do.”