Latest Michigan football fall practice buzz on Colston Loveland and the tight ends

Today, at Schembechler Hall, media events continue for a few Wolverine standouts. The first to the podium this afternoon was sophomore tight end Colston Loveland, who had a breakout year in 2022 and looks to continue his success throughout this true sophomore season and beyond. Here is the Michigan football fall practice buzz surrounding Loveland and the tight end room.

Michigan football fall practice buzz surrounding Colston Loveland

What is Colston Loveland’s ceiling with Michigan football?

“Every day, I just try to come in here and just try to be the most complete tight end I can be,” Colston Loveland told the media this afternoon. “That’s all I can ask for. I don’t know where my ceiling is, I don’t know what my ceiling is, but I do know that I can compete with anyone and I’m gonna work my butt off to become the most complete tight end I as I can — run game,  pass game, pass pro (protection).”

What has Colston Loveland learned from Indiana transfer tight end AJ Barner? What has Barner learned from him?

“Obviously, a new offense for him so I’ve kind of been helping him there, but he’s hooked on like that and got everything like that,” Loveland explained. “I think having an older guy like that who played a lot of games, he’s taught me a lot. Especially like fade balls and stuff like that. He’s really good at that aspect. In the run game, (AJ Barner) also blocks really well. So we kind of bounce ideas off each other back and forth. Great addition to the room.”

What is Zach Marshall like?

“Oh man, can’t say enough good about him,” Colston Loveland said. “He’s probably one of the best people I know. Always comes in with a smile on his face, super enthusiastic. He just seems to seem to liven up the room when he walks in. Every day he’s got a smile on his face and he’s always talking to people, trying to start conversations. So yeah, he deserved that award for sure.”

Loveland’s thoughts on being the top tight end this year

“It’s a blessing first off, to be in this position,” he explained. “Like I said, I’m just going to attack it each and every day, bring everyone with me, and just keep becoming a better leader — learning how to lead by example and with my mouth. But I think just bringing everyone along with me and being the best team we can be.”

Why choose Michigan football? What was the Wolverines’ recruiting pitch?

“I wouldn’t even say it was a recruiting pitch, but you just watch football, there’s a lot of three tight end — two tight ends on the field,” Loveland said of the Michigan football offense. “13 personnel, 12 personnel — they always play with one tight end on the field it seems like. So that was really enough for me and then the education here, the people here, everything checked the boxes. So a perfect fit for me and I’m super glad I chose Michigan.”

What NFL tight ends stand out to him?

“Obviously Travis Kelce,” Loveland said. “His route running and the way he finds the zone is pretty impressive so I really admire that. And then recently I’ve been watching a lot of Dallas Goedert, Eagles. He’s a great tight end. I kind of think we have similar playstyle. But obviously Kittle, Jimmy Graham, all the greats, but really those two. Mainly Travis Kelce, though, is who I watch the most.”

His thoughts on the comparisons to Brock Bowers (Georgia tight end)

“You know, I’m Colston Loveland so that’s really all I can say. He’s a great tight end and he does amazing things down there for them but I’m just focused on what I’m doing for this team and what I can do for them,” he explained.

Where has Colston Loveland improved the most this year during fall practice?

“I would say just overall comfortability in the program,” Loveland explained. “Getting the trust from other guys — strength, speed, size, and playbook — Now I’m super locked in on the playbook. Obviously had another year, so now I can really fly around, move fast, work on little techniques — run game, pass game, whatever that is. But I think overall, especially in the run game, I’ve developed this offseason quite a bit. Pass game — being more comfortable finding zones. Like I said, smoking man on man routes, press coverage too, a lot of that, but just as a whole I’ve grown and I’m excited to just keep going.”

Improved ability as a blocker during fall practice?

“Obviously, I’ve put on more size, gotten much stronger,” Loveland said. “But just like I said, once you do something over and over and over again, you just get better at it, you get more comfortable. That’s just the thing — hand placement, footwork, everything goes into and I think I just keep getting better and I’m looking to get better.”

Any ideal weight goals for Loveland this year?

“It wasn’t ever like a big deal,” Colston Loveland said of his ideal weight as a blocker. “But like, ‘Yeah, we’ll get some pounds on you. Don’t rush anything, we’ll get pounds on you,’ trying to be like 245-250 going into camp and then you might lose a little bit there. That’s really all there was to it. It’s not like we had this big thing set up, it’s like stick to the plan, do what you got to do and should be there by the end of offseason.”

Any personal goals for Loveland this year coming out of fall practice?

“Like you said, team first,” Loveland explained. “We all know what the team goal is and with that will come individual success obviously. But right now I do have some goals in mind, but I like to keep them to myself and I’m right now just focused on the team and really just focused on just keeping our feet under us and attacking and each day, attacking each meeting, attacking practice — whatever it is, not looking looking too far ahead because I feel like last year, there were times we did look too far ahead, overlooked something, but that’s something we’re really honing in on this year. Just be where we are now and attack that.”

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