Michigan football: TE depth a strength, but watch out for one emerging presence
Michigan football’s offense is still looking for ways to hit its stride as a group with seemingly limitless potential. When push comes to shove, this is still Jim Harbaugh’s program, meaning the tight ends will factor into the attack.
The Wolverines are as deep and as talented at tight end as any group on the roster. Senior Erick All and graduate Luke Schoonmaker are just the beginning.
“I think that’s one of the things that we’re really, really lucky to have,” tight ends coach Grant Newsome said on Wednesday. “We have five, six maybe even seven deep who can go in at tight end and can win us games. Obviously, Erick and Schoonie are the two top dogs but, behind them, Joel has done a heckuva job. He absolutely dominated a guy at the goal line at UConn. He’s playing his tail off. Max Bredeson is playing really, really well. Colston Loveland, Matt Hibner, Carter Selzer. We feel like, in that group, we have a lot of guys who we can win a lot of games with.”
Of all the depth options at tight end, Loveland has been a frequent name brought up in Michigan circles. The true freshman has a bright future and could be a factor sooner rather than later.
“Some guys kind of have it,” Newsome said. “We kind of realized pretty quickly that he had the tools. On top of the mindset, he was very, very mature for his age. Not just physically but also mentally, how he’s able to come in and grasp the playbook and handle the stress of being a student-athlete playing football at Michigan. He’s got all the tools in the world. We’re super excited about him. We’ll continue to stay on top of him and make sure he continues to, hopefully, progress into the top tight end we think he can be.”
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Tight end usage a work in progress for Michigan
Michigan is a program that has traditionally had strong tight end play. The production looks different year to year and there are a lot of mouths to feed. However, Newsome sees a group embracing the challenge of getting better and finding ways onto the field.
“I think we have a very unselfish group across the board,” he said. “Everyone is kind of focused on team success. I think, also, part of it, too, is we’ve had really good first games and you wouldn’t trade that for the opposite. As a result, you’ve had a lot of these top guys playing six quarters of football as opposed to 12. A lot of those games were starting to get out of hand in the first half. Obviously, we know the tight ends are a part of this offense and they’ll continue to be involved. It’s definitely going to be a focal point of the offense.”
Michigan often gets referred to as a “Jim Harbaugh-type of team,” which is obvious given his leadership for nearly a decade. The program lost its way for a season or two recently, but has found the form it was expected to have when Harbaugh arrived in 2014.
“It’s a huge compliment,” Newsome said. “A reflection of a coach who has won at the highest levels. A coach who was a loss against his brother away from being on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches. I think it’s a huge compliment. It’s another way of saying it’s a physical, well-coached team that’s going to come out and try to smash it out for 60 minutes. I think it’s a huge compliment and a huge compliment to the guys.”
