On his first year as a position coach
First of all, it's a huge honor. Immensely thankful to Coach Harbaugh for giving me that opportunity, especially at a younger age than most. Extremely lucky to be given that title, that position and that responsibility. I was really just fortunate to have a great group of guys, a group of older players who made it very, very easy for me to give me the opportunity to learn and grow as a coach throughout the year and maximize their abilities physically and mentally.
On the veteran group of TEs last year help the younger guys
Especially in the tight end room but, really, across the team. Our guys have done such great job of taking ownership of not just the locker room but the program in general. Part of that is mentoring the young guys and bringing them along, remembering what it was like when you were a freshman and those other guys helped you. You see guys like Schoonie, who was a freshman getting mentored by guys like Sean McKeon, then he goes and mentors Colston and obviously helps him have a great year and now he's back with the Cowboys, back with Sean. I shot them both a text after the draft and said, hey, you're going back to papa. It's funny to see it come full circle but we're very, very lucky.
On Colston Loveland's development
He's on the right track. It's impressive. The cool thing for him, I don't think he realizes quite yet just how good he is and how good he can be. That's great for us because he works every day like he isn't one of the best tight ends in the country. He works every day like he isn't one of the most talented guys we've ever had come through here. There's so arrogance, there's no cockiness, he just puts his head down and grinds and is so humble, so mature about it. He's got an immense amount of ability. I was joking with Jake Butt who is the best tight end I've ever seen come through here in my nine years here. He watched a practice and afterward he and I sat down and talked and he said, yeah, he's going to be better than I am. He may be better than I am.
On Loveland as a blocker
He was very natural, especially for a guy who, playing out in Idaho, playing smaller football, he was the best player on the field every single week so they used him all over the place. His coaching staff, they had him at quarterback, they had him at receiver. Outside of snapping the ball, he played everywhere on the field at some point. As he should. He's the best player in the state for a reason. For a guy who didn't really have a background in blocking, that's not what he did a lot of in high school. To come in, a lot of things we know as former offensive linemen that are sometimes tough for guys to get used to and perfect. Playing with tight hands, playing with a great base, getting his cleats in the ground. All the things that are tough for offensive lineman who have been doing for their entire lives, or at least their high school careers to do, came pretty natural to him. The more you watch last year's film, a lot of times if he would lose a block it's, oh, he's not quite strong enough yet or improving little technique things. The foundation was very, very, very good. Especially for a guy that is not his background.
On whether they will be able to utilize Loveland as a weapon
I think so. We're very fortunate because of his height and because of his length, because he's already pretty strong, has to keep getting stronger but, for a young guy, he's very strong. Yet he's athletic, yet he's comfortable putting his hand in the dirt in the backfield and being that second puller. You saw the touchdown against Purdue in the Big Ten championship game, he's lined up in the backfield. He's comfortable doing everything so we can manipulate him and move him around by game plan or by match-up to get what we're looking for.
On AJ Barner integrating into the offense
He's just worked. Which maybe is the best compliment you can give someone. Especially a guy who was a two-year captain there, two or three-year starter, played a ton of football in the Big Ten. Shoot, caught an impressive touchdown against Ohio State. A guy who has kind of been there and done that. For him to come in, there was never any arrogance or cockiness or, hey, it's my room now. He just put his head down and worked and learned. Just a guy who is always asking what more he can do. How he can improve. He's meshed extremely well with the team and the room.
On whether it's a similar transition for Barner to put his hand in the dirt like Loveland
I think so. Again, we're very fortunate that he has all the physical tools to do it. He's got the strength and, beyond that, he's got the experience. Even though they didn't do a ton of it in Indiana, he knows what it's like cutting off a backside defensive end in this conference. It's a lot easier said than done. We joke as coaches, it's one of those things that looks really easy if you're drawing it up on the board. If you actually have to do it, it's a lot harder. We're fortunate he's got that experience and there's plenty of stuff that he needs to improve on and he works at that. We're very fortunate to have him.
On the excitement of being able to create mismatches with the TE position
We're very, very blessed. Coach Moore always jokes and calls them rich people problems. You're worried about how we can get all these guys the ball and Coach Moore does a heck of a job doing just that. Again, we're very fortunate to have those kind of problems. I'm fortunate, as a tight ends coach, to feel like, hey, I've got five guys I can trot out who are high-level tight ends right now. Not just with Colston and AJ, I think the world kind of saw Matt Hibner take that next step in the spring game until the turf monster got him. That was exciting, too, because that was something that had been showing up in practice since last year. Now, the challenge for him would be to take that into games because he's got all the ability in the world. Max Bredeson, who played a whole bunch last year and Marlin Klein, who had a heck of a spring and is immensely talented as well are going to have to play some football for us this year. For me to feel like, hey, I've got five guys who I feel confident putting out there and we can go win games with, it's a huge asset.
On getting all of his TEs on the field
First off, it's a credit to the guys and there's really no selfishness in that room. That's a credit to the players, Coach Jay Harbaugh and Coach Moore and the culture they kind of instilled in that room when I took it over that there's never any kind of, oh, this guy played 23 snaps and I only played 20 or this guy caught four balls and I only caught two. There's none of that, there's no selfishness. I think that's something that will be a huge asset for us and something I, honestly, as a first-time position coach, did not do well enough last year was distributing the load and I think it kind of caught up to Schoonie a little bit towards the end of the year. It'll be awesome to take some of the snaps off one singular and distribute them across the room.
On what goals he has as an individual
Anytime you get into a field, you want to be the best you can possibly be. You want t get to the top of that field. For me, yeah, the dream is for me to be a head coach. Whether that's in the NFL or whether that's in college, obviously there's a strong appear to Michigan itself. That's obviously the ultimate dream. Where I'm very, very fortunate and very blessed, both my wife and I as a family, we've got very lucky and very fortunate that I'm kind of already at a dream job. There are people who work their entire careers to get to a place like this. For me to have my first position coach position to be at Michigan, especially having played here, just very, very fortunate. The nice thing for us, there's no desire or looking around. You're not constantly searching for that next opportunity. I feel like I'm surrounded by the best staff in America, best head coach in America and I get to learn every day which is a huge, huge luxury for me that I get to come in and work every day and just do my job. Learn from some of the best coaches in the country like Sherrone Moore.
On pressure he receives from other programs to be a coach elsewhere
I'll be honest, I've been very fortunate. Like I said, to start out at Michigan, there hasn't been much. I think people kind of realize, alright, guy who played here, young coach already in a position coach job so I've been very fortunate that I haven't had to be taking calls in the middle of the night or going out and interviewing or anything like that. Very, very fortunate. That's why we all have agents and they can deal with that stuff when that time comes. Loving being at Michigan and can't imagine being anywhere else.
---
Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards
Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer
Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @lucasreimink
Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify
Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube
Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
