When Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and FOX released his annual preseason 'Freaks List', a Michigan tight end appeared in the top 100. Interestingly, though, the third-year tight end that appeared 90th on the list isn't the same third-year Wolverine tight end that was named to the Mackey Award (nation's best tight end) Watch List.

Colston Loveland, the proven, talented junior tight end from Gooding, Idaho, is up for the Mackey Award — an award he'll be contending for late into the 2024 season — but third-year tight end Marlin Klein was the player that caught Feldman's eye and ultimately earned a spot on the 'Freaks List'.

Klein, a 6-foot-6, 247-pound tight end from Cologne, Germany, is set for a breakout season arguably alongside, not behind, Loveland in the tight end room.

He met with reporters on Friday morning to discuss his career path, which started off slowly but is beginning to pick up.

"I think overall, just coming out of high school, I was just the fast guy," Klein said. "And, really, moving over here in 2019, I just started playing football about six or seven years ago, so just really learning the game. I was already an established athlete, but just learning how to play the game and why we do things."

Klein noted that before discovering his love for football, he was an avid soccer player, as many young kids in Europe are. But Klein's father, Marco, got him connected with an American football club in Germany, and Klein fell in love with the game during the first practice.

When Klein arrived at Michigan with little understanding of the game of football, he learned from those older than him.

"Being the competitor I am, just sitting behind guys, but I had the chance to learn so many things from those guys I sat behind, like Luke Schoonmaker, Erick All, A.J. Barner, like all those guys, at the end of the day, are playing in the NFL right now, so it's been great."

Now, the 21-year-old tight end has received his fair share of offseason hype, and despite weighing in at nearly 250 pounds, Klein is thought of as one of the fastest players on the team.

According to Maize and Blue Review's Josh Henschke, Klein outran star cornerback Will Johnson on a drag route during a recent fall camp practice, proving his potential and worth as a third-year rising tight end.

"I think I'm ready for it," Klein said. "It's been kind of a rough two years for me — not so rough winning a national championship and Big Ten championships — but I think I've waited my turn, and that's kind of how my parents raised me, so I think it's paid off so far, so super excited for the season to start."

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