Sherrone Moore Shares Glowing Comments About Michigan Football Tight End Room

The Wolverines are going to have a heckuva tight end room in 2023.

The theme surrounding the Michigan offense this offseason has been the talk of the Wolverines wanting to throw the ball more. Both Jim Harbaugh and J.J. McCarthy have said the goal is for the offense to be more balanced and have a 50/50 split between passing and running. 

On Thursday, offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore also stated that's the goal for the Michigan offense -- being balanced. While some games it may not happen, it's going to be determined on what the defense does to prepare for the Wolverines' offense. 

"Oh absolutely," said Moore during media availability "Yeah, we want to be you know, we want to be 50-50. I think there's going to be games where that might not happen. You know, we might see that the defense is solely set on taking one thing away, we might do the other. But we want to be as balanced as possible with sets, with the formations, how we do things, making everything look the same. So very conscious of that when we're putting together the game plans and that's something we're very focused on doing throughout training camp."

When you think of the Michigan passing game, you think of how much Jim Harbaugh likes to utilize the tight end position. A year ago, Michigan had both Erik All, Luke Schoonmaker, and Colston Loveland to begin the season, but when All went down -- both Schoonmaker and Loveland soared. 

Loveland, now a sophomore, is expected to lead the Michigan tight end room and could be a big beneficiary to the Wolverines throwing the football more. Last season, he caught 16 passes for 235 yards and two scores. But he is receiving big hype, like John Mackey Award-winner hype. Coach Moore didn't hold back when talking about the young tight end. 

"Man, that dude is a beast," said Moore. "I don't know if there is -- he could be as good as he wants to be. He could be the best one in the country. And I know there's one down in Georgia who's been extremely good and he's a phenomenal player. But just very excited to see where Colston is and his progress, what he's done already in training camp. He's already gotten bigger. He's already gotten stronger. He's already gotten faster. He understands where everything is in the offense now, so he's not being not spoon-fed everything. You're throwing it all at him and he gets it. Just very excited to see him and where he goes. He can be as good as anybody in the country. I think he's an extraordinary player and just excited to have the year with him."

But Loveland isn't the only tight end Moore had positive things to say about. The Wolverines brought in veteran help via the transfer portal to help fill the void of losing Schoonmaker. AJ Barner comes to Michigan from Indiana and is more of the blocking-type at tight end but he has the ability to make the grabs as well. A year ago, he caught for 199 yards and three scores in the pass-heavy Hoosiers' offense. 

"Yeah, he's been outstanding," stated Moore. "First of all, he's huge. He's a giant human being. Phenomenal kid, phenomenal person, does everything right. He's been outstanding. Because when you're on the edge and you're blocking Jaylen Harrell and Kris Jenkins and all those other guys or whoever's out there, and you can hold up, it's pretty impressive. And then in the pass game, he's so big and he's so fluid and so agile, he gives you another threat in the passing game. So you can't say, 'oh, yeah, he's in the game, they're gonna run the ball'. So he's been extremely valuable. It's gonna allow very, you know, multiple things with him so very excited about him."