Michigan TE Colston Loveland looking to finish regular season strong: 'As long as I’m healthy, yeah, I’m playing'
Michigan Wolverines football junior tight end Colston Loveland is projected first-round NFL Draft pick in 2025, and he's in the midst of a dominant 2024 season. Despite the Wolverine offense struggling, he ranks first among Power Four tight ends with 79 targets, hauling in 53 catches for 560 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Michigan is in the middle of its second bye week and has two regular-season games remaining — Nov. 23 against Northwestern and Nov. 30 at Ohio State. The Wolverines are 5-5 overall and 3-4 in Big Ten play, so championship aspirations are out the window. Yet the team has remained motivated, including future NFL players like Loveland. There's been no thought of quitting on the team.
"We're gonna play," Loveland said. "As long as we're healthy and feel good, we're gonna play. Michigan has done so much for us
"All of our boys, our brothers, our family, our coaches — they're all still coaching and playing, so why wouldn't we play? We've got goals to reach as a team and individually, as well. So as long as I'm healthy, yeah, I'm playing."
Loveland said head coach Sherrone Moore hasn't had to come talk to Michigan players about giving up on the season, either. Loveland said he understands the thought process of players who stop playing midseason but doesn't have that mindset.
"I could see both sides," the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Gooding, Idado, native said. "Maybe if you had an injury or something, but I feel like for me — and I know a lot of the guys here — if you're healthy and you can go out and play, we love the game of football.
"We've been blessed by God to be able to play this game, our families have sacrificed so much, so why wouldn't we play? That's kinda where my head's at."
Michigan is one win away from becoming bowl eligible. Loveland was asked if his mentality is the same for a potential bowl game.
"That may be a different story, but yeah, as long as I feel good in the regular season, I'm play, for sure," he replied.
Loveland is responsible for 41.6 percent of Michigan's receiving yards, 40 percent of the touchdown grabs and 36.8 percent of the overall catches. Given that he's the biggest threat in the pass game, he's noticed that defenses are keying in on him more.
"I can feel the respect, for sure, whether they're dropping someone in there or they're cheating a safety over or whatever," Loveland said. "But sometimes that's how it is, so you just gotta get open regardless. It can get frustrating, yeah, but just gotta keep trying to get open."
Despite the attention, Michigan's tight end is still averaging 2.84 yards per route run — the fourth-best mark among tight ends with 30-plus targets. Loveland was asked if he has a go-to move to continually get open.
"Nah, I can't be doing that on camera," he said with a big laugh. "No. Nah."
Loveland doesn't feel too much pressure, even though he's been the focal point of a struggling Michigan offense.
"Personally, I feel like I always want to do a lot for the team in whatever I can do," he said. "I feel like I can take a big load, and whatever they need me to do, I'll do it. But I don't feel like there's an overwhelming amount of weight on my shoulders. We just all gotta go out there as 11 guys on offense and do our job and make plays when we can."
Loveland still believes Michigan can turn things around offensively, even though the Wolverines rank tied 117th nationally with only 20.4 points per contest.
"Obviously, stuff hasn't gone the way we've wanted it to," he acknowledged. "We just gotta go out there, with two more guaranteed games, and put it on tape. I think we can, because we've got the ability to do it. I kinda sound like a broken record. We've got the potential, but potential doesn't mean anything if you don't do it.
"Just focus on going out there, putting really good tape on film as an offense, working together — run game hitting, pass game hitting, we kinda need everything to be good."
