New tight ends coach Steve Casula, who was officially introduced by the program in early February, joined Jon Jansen this past week to preview the tight end room for the 2024 season.
Casula joins the Michigan football program from UMass, where he spent two years after spending three years as an offensive analyst with Michigan from 2019-21.
Speaking with Jansen, Casula discussed the unique tight end room, which starts with junior Colston Loveland.
"I think he's one of the finest football players in the country," Casula said.
"When you flip the tape on, he can really go. So impressed by him."
Ironically, not more than 48 hours after Casula's appearance on 'In the Trenches' podcast with Jansen, Pro Football Focus rated Loveland as its top-ranked tight end heading into the 2024 season.
Loveland made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2022, and he was a stalwart for the Wolverines during their national championship season in 2023. He hauled in 45 passes for 649 yards and four touchdowns for the Wolverines as they marched their way to the program's 12th national title.
"The biggest thing that is unique about Colston is his contact balance as a route runner," Casula said. "His ability to get open in a million different ways, his ability to get collision or to collision someone else as he's running a route but keep his balance and maintain his speed is elite. It's elite. He's so hard to cover because he's loose, he can run, he's physical and he's got great ball skills and an exceptional catch radius."
Loveland's elite catch radius has been on display ever since he stepped foot in Ann Arbor. Highlighted by a touchdown reception in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2022 and a 41-yard reception from J.J. McCarthy in the National Championship Game, Loveland has been one of the most reliable pass catchers on the team during his two years on the roster.
"The thing that makes the most difference is when he's being played in man and zone coverage and a guy doesn't want to move, college football they're allowed to hit you now, they're allowed to re-route you, they're allowed to grab you. He brings the fight to the pass defender and then still wins route, it's really exceptional," Casula said.
Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing in at 245 pounds, Loveland does a fantastic job of doing what Casula described. He may not put up the gaudy stats that a guy like Brock Bowers did, but Loveland does the little things right in order to help the team succeed.
And when Loveland is called upon to make a flashy play — which he's had his fair share of during his two seasons at Michigan — he's grown accustomed to doing so.
"Certainly willing. A guy who plays with good pad level and can contribute to the run game in a bunch of different ways. He was at the backside point of attack in some big moments in the Penn State game, where he cut off the C-gap. He certainly can do all the different things in the run game that we ask a tight end to do, for sure."
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