Michigan TE Colston Loveland weighs in on QB battle, emerging players in position group
Michigan Wolverines tight end Colston Loveland enters his junior season as a potential focal point of the offense, especially in the passing game. With several contributors moving on and a new quarterback to break in, there is a lot to sort out between now and the season opener.
Michigan is well into its second week of spring practice as it attempts to answer some of these questions. Loveland has gotten an up-close and personal look at how the battle has played out to this point with Alex Orji, Jayden Denegal, Davis Warren, Jack Tuttle and Jadyn Davis all getting an opportunity to establish themselves.
Tuttle has been limited in spring ball, but Loveland has liked what he has seen from the group so far through the first week-plus of practice.
“They each have an individual skill set that they excel at,” Loveland said. “Orji, he’s got it on his feet, too. He’s good with his legs. [Jayden Denegal] throws a good ball. [Davis Warren] throws a good ball. It’s been an open competition thus far and it’s been cool to see those guys battle it out, but still a lot of spring ball left and a lot to go. They’ve all been handling it really well… staying on the grind and just trying to get better every day.”
A lot of quarterback battles have two or three guys competing for the role. Michigan has five options to kick things off, which might make it a little more difficult to establish chemistry. That might be something that comes later in the offseason with the narrowing of the pecking order set as the current priority in the building.
It could also fundamentally change the offense’s identity, depending on who wins the job.
“It’s a great point, finding that chemistry between the competition,” Loveland said. “But first it starts with the competition. It has started out great. Everyone’s got a fair opportunity to win the job. We’ve got time. It’s spring ball. We have all summer to get it right too. But, hopefully we just find that out. I don’t think anyone here is worried about who the starting quarterback is and who’s going to take charge. It has to play its course out at this point.
“The offense can be based around skill sets that the quarterback has. I can’t answer that question now. We’ll see when it comes to the starting quarterback.”
Loveland’s focus now is continuing to grow into his own game, as well as fostering growth for his peers in the Michigan tight end room. The early returns are positive so far under new position coach Steve Casula.
“Brady [Prieskorn] and Hogan [Hansen], the two freshmen, have been doing a good job,” Loveland said. “I know how it is coming in early to spring with a lot on your plate. Obviously they’re battling through a lot of things right now, but they’re doing a great job so far. Zack Marshall’s doing great and Marlin Klein is stepping up.
“Josh Beetham, Max Bredeson… everyone in the room is doing what they do. That’s a huge shout-out to Coach Casula as well and Coach Newsome doing a great job preparing us. It’s gonna be exciting to see how the rest of the spring plays out with those younger guys.”
Assuming Michigan’s offensive identity stays relatively in-tact, the tight ends will factor heavily into it. That means a running mate for Loveland, and so far Klein has come into his own.
“Marlin is the fastest tight end, probably the strongest tight end and the biggest tight end. So he’s got it all there,” Loveland said. “He’s done a great job this spring taking that next step. He’s done a damn good job of practice. AJ. Barner was really good. I’m not saying Marlin can’t [be] that at all. He definitely can, but it’s just gonna be building that throughout this spring and camp for him, but he’s got it on his plate for sure.”
