The rise of Colston Loveland has been quick, impressive, and frankly not surprising.

Loveland played wide receiver for most of high school, but once he bulked up to 6'5" 230 he became more of a natural tight end. His catching ability was obvious, a high point machine, but he was going to have to develop once he arrived in Ann Arbor to make an immediate impact.

Loveland worked his way up the depth chart, but an early season ending injury for Erick All and a later season injury to Luke Schoonmaker he was going to get more opportunities sooner than maybe expected. To play at Michigan, you have to block, and Loveland says that was the hardest part of his game to work on when he first arrived.

"It was tough to kind of get the technique down," Loveland said. "And now its kind of coming to me. Getting more and more comfortable every day."

The growth Loveland has been able to show from early enrollee to freshman making incredible touchdown grabs in wins against Ohio State and in the Big Ten Championship has been surprising for even him.

"The growth just from day one to now, its insane."

Loveland attributes that growth to the guys who were here before him.

"The older guys in the tight end room...Carter Selzer, Joel, Honigford, Luke Schoonmaker, Hibby (Matthew Hibner), all those guys...and Coach Newsome obviously, every day, showing me new things. I don't even know all that much right now, I have so much more to learn. Being where I'm at right now and having more to learn? It's amazing."

For Loveland, it was about trust. From day 1 he felt he could trust his new Wolverine teammates, and he was excited to be a part of brotherhood he saw even back when he took his visits to Ann Arbor as a recruit.

"I'm looking up to them all the time. I respect those guys a ton."

Now, Loveland is more than a top recruit or freshman with high potential, he is an important part of the Michigan offense. A Michigan offense that is preparing for an opponent in TCU much different than what they are used to seeing. Loveland made it no secret what Michigan hopes to do in its playoff matchup in the Fiesta Bowl.

"They like to drop a lot of guys in coverage, don't bring much pressure, so we're gonna take advantage of that."

With the stakes even higher than the previous two games, a Big Ten East clinching win in Columbus, a Big Ten Championship against Purdue, Loveland says things in Schembechler Hall won't be that much different.

"We're coming in every day, prepare the same, do the same, we're just gonna do what we've been doing."

Loveland is locked into the TE2 role behind Luke Schoonmaker heading into the College Football Playoff. His 160 yards and 2 touchdowns in the last 4 games makes him Michigan's third leading receiver in that time frame. Loveland is only 37 yards away from having the most receiving yards by a freshman tight end at Michigan, since Jake Butt in 2013.

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