Southfield to Ann Arbor is a quick, 38-mile trip, but it wasn't a straight shot for Daylen Baldwin, who will join the Michigan football team next month. His path to playing for the Wolverines was a long, winding journey, but he wouldn't trade his experience.
A Waterford (Mich.) Mott graduate, Baldwin had just one D-I offer out of high school, and he took advantage of it, signing with Morgan State, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
He racked up 30 catches for 333 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons with the Bears (2017-18), but decided to hit the transfer portal, landing at fellow FCS school Jackson State. After sitting out the 2019 campaign due to transfer rules, Baldwin played for first-year head coach Deion Sanders during the 2020 season, which was postponed until the spring of 2021.
He became a breakout star, leading the Southwestern Athletic Conference in receiving yards (540) and notching 27 catches for seven touchdowns. In the process, he earned the league's Newcomer of the Year award and was named first-team all-conference.
Then after graduating, he hit the transfer portal once again, hoping to play closer to home. Baldwin expected to make the jump to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), but didn't anticipate notching big-time offers from the likes of Ohio State and Michigan.
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"I thought I was going to be in the MAC at Kent State, Central Michigan, something like that," Baldwin said on The Wolverine Podcast this week. "I wasn’t thinking I was going to get any Big Ten, SEC, ACC, any of those offers. After Ohio State and Michigan offered me, everybody was calling me and asking me to come work out — teams calling me, asking me to come work out. I wasn’t working out anymore. I told them I wasn’t working out any more, I don’t care.
"My dad, some of my close homeboys that were on my team in Jackson, back home, they were like, ‘You’re going to blow up, just watch. It’s going to be crazy when you get in the portal. It’s going to blow up, blah, blah, blah.’ I was like, ‘I don’t think so. I just want to make my move and be on my way and make my mark.’ I didn’t expect a lot of this.
"But once those teams asked me to come work out, I expected to get the offer right after, just based on the fact that I understand my ability and am confident in my ability. The only team that didn’t offer me was Penn State, and they were looking at other receivers, as well, so they were evaluating everybody, so I understand that.
"Ohio State and Michigan, it’s an accomplishment to get an offer, let alone go there. It was showing me that, Daylen, you can play with those guys. Anybody who told you you can’t play with those guys, they’re lying, because you just got an offer from two of the best schools in the country. What are we really talking about?"
It was Michigan safeties coach Ron Bellamy, who had a preexisting relationship with Baldwin, who asked him to come work out. During the session, Baldwin clicked with offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Josh Gattis.
"I just liked what the feeling was around there once I got on campus," Baldwin said. "It was more like the feeling, the gut feeling I had. I brought my mom around like two or three days later, just to make sure she checked it out. Mom always knows best, so I always make sure she’s with the decision. If she’s not with it, then it’s not going down.
"They didn’t really pitch too much. No disrespect to many receivers on the roster, but they have a lot of youth — a lot of freshmen, a junior, a sophomore and a senior. They don’t have a lot of experience on the field. I can definitely help in that department. That was one thing they did say is that I can give them some experience and come compete right away."
At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, Baldwin, who is one of two scholarship wideouts on Michigan's roster over 6-foot who have college experience (sophomore Cornelius Johnson is the other), is a big-bodied outside receiver who averaged 20 yards per reception last season. When asked to describe his style of play, Baldwin said he can do it all.
"You get everything. You get the hitch, you get the hitch to the house, you get the deep ball, you get the intermediate stuff, route running — whatever you need, I got it," Baldwin said. "I give everything. I’m just a smart player, at the end of the day. To me, that’s my key — I’m just smart. That knowledge just helps me a lot doing everything, thinking on the fly. For me, I’d just say they’re basically getting an all-around receiver."
An all-around receiver who can block, too. Baldwin actually led Jackson State's entire team — including offensive linemen — with a PFF run-blocking grade of 82.1 this spring while being in on 177 of such snaps.
An offensive lineman as a youth, Baldwin brings a unique mentality to the wide receiver position.
"You don’t want to be ashamed of anything you put on film," he said. "There’s nobody out there playing as you. Putting stuff on film [is] No. 1. No. 2, treat somebody how you want to be treated. You want somebody to block for you, you block for them. Taking pride in that, that’s my brother, I’m not about to let you hit my brother, no matter what.
"Really trying to move people out of the way. We had rules like, if the run is going away from us, they can’t pass the close hash to us. We had real, solid rules that my coach was strict on, so that helped a lot. But really taking pride in it, because at the end of the day, it’s a want-to. If you don’t want to do it, you’re not going to do it. If you do, you’re going to find a way to get it done. I know that’s a part of my game that other guys won’t have, and I’ll take pride in it."
He's at home now, working out in preparation for when he heads to Ann Arbor July 7.
"I’m really excited to come up there and start competing and making sure they know who I am," Baldwin said.
And when it's time to run out of the tunnel to touch the MGoBlue Banner for Michigan's opener against Western Michigan Sept. 4, it'll be a moment to remember for Baldwin, who didn't take the traditional route but was able to get somewhere he never thought he'd be.
"That’s definitely going to be crazy," Baldwin said. "I feel like I’ll get goosebumps the first time. At the end of the day, you’ve got to isolate yourself and feel like it’s just you, the ball, your team, and that’s it. Like it’s routes on air or like it’s practice — that’s how you gotta look at it, like it’s one-on-ones in practice.
"I’ll be happy — that’ll be the biggest thing. I’ll probably be emotional, based off the fact that if anybody would’ve told me I’d be here two years ago, I’d have looked at them crazy like, ‘What are you talking about?’
"For me, it’s an accomplishment more than anything. I’m gonna be happy, be ready to play."
And he has the license and ability to see the field right away if he gets up to speed this summer.
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