Jay Harbaugh not surprised by tight end Colston Loveland’s success
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One thing Michigan football has been increasingly good at under Jim Harbaugh is discovering diamonds in the rough. From Kwity Paye to Luke Schoonmaker to Josh Metellus to Hassan Haskins, the Wolverines have managed to bring in some unheralded talent who ended up being top-end players who went early in the NFL draft.
It’s somewhat difficult to say that of Colston Loveland, the Michigan tight end from Gooding, Idaho, however.
Loveland, who’s now in his second year in Ann Arbor, was a four-star prospect and had some big-time offers, thus wasn’t necessarily a complete unknown. Boasting offers from Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and more, Michigan wasn’t even his first really big offer, but hailing from Idaho, the Wolverines were able to swoop in and get him over some other big teams, in large part because he wasn’t a household name in recruiting circles.
At the time, Jay Harbaugh was the tight ends coach and Loveland’s primary recruiter. Now Harbaugh is coaching the safeties, but as he sees Loveland performing at a high level as his career progresses, he’s not at all surprised that he’s making as big of an impact as he’s been making.
“From the first time I saw him, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s ridiculous,’” Harbaugh said. “And if he didn’t live where he happened to live, just from an exposure standpoint, I don’t think he would have surprised anyone at all. But the reality is who’s out there and a really small town off the beaten path. And when you saw him in person, it’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, he’s really one of the best high school prospects that I’ve ever seen,’ and it’s just fun watching him. Being able to be here and be such a great teammate, a great person, and become the player that he’s capable of. And the sky’s the limit. I mean, he’s gonna keep getting better and better so really, really huge fan of him.”
Regardless, how does Harbaugh find such unearthed talent? Does it take skill to do so?
For him, he says it’s more of going in with open eyes and paying attention to everything — not the recruiting rankings or curated highlights. And when he made it Idaho to see Loveland, he saw a player who could play every position at a high level, who probably would have been a five-star is he was in a more talent-rich area.
“Just going through lists, watching guys and you just kind of go from top to bottom — ‘Hey, these guys are supposed to be the best, these guys are good,’ go down the ranking list and sometimes guys catch your eyes,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes you don’t like other guys as much, maybe you move past the guy and then circle back and say maybe I’m gonna double-check on this guy again.
“He’s one, right? He seemed really good and seemed like a good player, great ball skills, a guy who’s crazy productive. He was like returning punts and stuff. And I mean, doing everything — played D-end, played safety. I mean, he did like everything on the football field. But you don’t recruit many players from that area of the country. So you circle back later and compare his tape. ‘Man, this guy’s pretty interesting,’ then you gotta go actually see him in person. That’s when it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s really probably the best or one of the very best prospects of that position in the country.’”
