Michigan wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy played with a handful of talented receivers during his time in Ann Arbor. Some were future NFL pros, like himself, and some did enough to make a name for themselves at the college level.
However, it's clear that the top-three receivers he played with were Jason Avant, Steve Breaston and Braylon Edwards. All three were receivers that happened to be discussed when Bellamy met with the media to discuss the Wolverines' fall camp.
First up, when discussing Andrel Anthony, Bellamy mentioned Anthony's strive for greatness and how it compared to Edwards.
The Michigan native would love to follow in the footsteps of another Michigan native.
"Andrel, one of the guys that he wants to emulate is Braylon," Bellamy said. "The things that Braylon’s done on the field and if you look at it they’re very similar, body structure and—I can obviously share stories because I played with Braylon for two years and just how brilliant he attacked the game and Andrel wants to add that to his game."
As for Breaston, the speedy and prolific return man made his mark on the offensive side of the ball.
When asked who he thought Breaston would be compared to, Bellamy mentioned Ronnie Bell as someone who has a very similar style of play.
"Ronnie has a little Steve Breaston in him," Bellamy said. "Very slippery, deceiving. I tease him, Steve had that awkward running, but he always runs away from you, and he’s hard to tackle and Ronnie’s the same way. Steve’s probably a little taller than Ronnie but very, very, very savvy football players that are deceptive with their speed and elusiveness."
Avant's comparison should make any Wolverine happy to hear. The ever-reliable receiver who always seemed to make the catch when it counted, Bellamy compared the great to a freshman that's currently rising the ranks.
"Darrius Clemons right now, the young buck," Bellamy said when asked to compare Avant. "Now he’s not as polished as Jason, but he will be. He will be. But he’s the guy that, ‘Coach, watch this.’ He’s that guy, he’s a bigger guy, 210, and now he’s strong as an ox, is explosive and he loves contact. Jason was like that. Jason and I played together here and as Jason was learning how to be a receiver before he was catching passes and running routes, Jason was the guy that would dig the safeties out, go block linebackers, kind of do the dirty work, per se.
"And Darrius is that guy that says, ‘Coach put me in, I don’t care if it’s to block, put me in.’ No, he’s that guy right now that kind of carries that torch and it’s pretty cool for a young guy to kind of carry that torch, and the guys know about Jason, as well. He spoke to the team and they’ve seen videos of Jason, so D.C. is that guy right now."
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