Colston Loveland is a well-known offensive threat for the Michigan football team. He let the “cat out of the bag” with a tricky performance against Rutgers, burned Indiana with a career-long 54-yard catch and tore up Michigan State with two touchdowns. Former coach Jim Harbaugh even compared him to Travis Kelce ahead of the Big Ten Championship game against Iowa.
And he did all of that as a sophomore last season.
Now in his junior season, the tight end is expected to be one of the top players for the Wolverines, if not in the country. But with that great power comes great responsibility for Loveland.
“In my opinion, Colston on any given snap is the best player on the field,” Michigan tight ends coach Steve Casula said Tuesday. “And with that, that’s a major compliment to him, but I think certainly there becomes the duty and responsibility of you gotta do it every day. And he’s about it.”
An All-Big Ten first team selection in 2023, Loveland already has accolades to his name and the stats to back it up. Against Ohio State last season, he set a career-high mark with 88 receiving and led the team. He finished the season with 649 yards and four touchdowns, second only behind former receiver Roman Wilson in both categories.
With Wilson departing for the NFL draft, he leaves a young, inexperienced receiver room in his wake. It seems only natural that Loveland will be able to showcase his abilities even more this season. Some systems rely on tight ends as blockers who occasionally peel off to catch a checkdown. Not the Wolverines, though. They incorporate their tight ends as vital aspects of the offense, drawing up plays specifically for talents like Loveland to shine.
“He’s done some exceptional, exceptional things in the biggest moments possible, and that has become his new standard,” Casula said. “(He’s) working to hold that each and every day, which he’s done this spring. He’s a guy that is really open to coaching and searching to find the best way to do things.”
With a player as skilled as Loveland, coaching doesn’t generally come in the form of finding solutions to problems because Casula doesn’t see major issues in Loveland’s game. Rather, he’s working with Loveland on fine tuning details and understanding why he’s doing something, not just how to do it.
And those details extend well beyond receiving. Loveland and all of Michigan’s tight ends regularly do the dirty work, blocking and helping other ball carriers make plays.
“In years past, the tight end position has always been extremely important and valuable here,” Casula said. “That’s a tradition that we don’t take lightly. You look at huge moments in the 2023 season, whether it be a long touchdown run against Penn State, a long touchdown run in overtime by Blake (Corum) against Alabama, somehow, someway there was always a tight end involved.”
The tight ends are expected to receive plenty of targets next season, but even if their names don’t show up on the stat sheet, it doesn’t mean they’re not contributing. With senior Max Bredeson and junior Marlin Klein consistently mentioned as tight ends who are taking strides alongside Loveland during spring practices, the room looks to be in good hands.
Last season, Loveland led the tight end group to plenty of dominant performances. Now he’s stepping up to the challenge of meeting his own high standard.