Colston Loveland selected by the Chicago Bears in first round of NFL Draft, at No. 10 overall

Record-setting tight end from Gooding High School had 235 catches, 3,141 yards and 39 total touchdowns in his four seasons

Colston Loveland finished his career at Gooding High School in Idaho with 235 receptions for 3,141 yards and 35 touchdowns. / Photo courtesy of Kelly Magee

When you are the big-name football coach in a small town such as Gooding in south central Idaho, you usually have your finger on the pulse of everything going on.

Even in the middle-school ranks.

Cam Anderson remembers initially seeing Colston Loveland, who was selected with the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, dominating youth football as a fifth grader, but his most vivid early-impression memory was during Gooding High School practice.

The middle school game was happening on an adjacent field. So, Anderson snuck over to watch for a few minutes.

"Colston was playing, and he wasn't very fast but was a good-sized kid," Anderson said. "Every ball that was thrown to him was caught — long or short. He just had a knack for getting the football wherever the football was."

That trait made him not only one of Idaho's all-time greatest players (and recruits), the touted tight end doesn't figure to have to wait very long Thursday night during the opening of the 2025 NFL Draft.

In his four seasons at Gooding, Loveland tore up defenses in the Class 3A Sawtooth Central Idaho — 235 catches, 3,141 yards and 39 total touchdowns.

Loveland had one of the best receiving seasons in state history as a sophomore in 2019 when he caught a school-record 91 passes for 1,147 yards and 14 touchdowns, registering five 100-yard receiving efforts and four games of 10 or more catches.

As a junior, Loveland had 69 receptions for 816 yards and six touchdowns.

By his senior season, Loveland was on everybody's radar, and still hauled in 62 catches for 968 yards and 14 touchdowns.

But that's not all — in that 2021 season as a senior, Anderson had Loveland doing a little bit of everything for the Senators' offense.

"His senior year, we moved him to five positions in a game — quarterback, running back, tight end, slot receiver and outside receiver," Anderson said. "It was the only way we could get him the ball."

In four games that season, Loveland scored at least one receiving touchdown.

And in a late-October game against Kimberly, Loveland caught two touchdowns, rushed for 107 yards and a score — and even completed a 28-yard pass (to an offensive lineman).

"We were going to get every inch out of the kid," Anderson said.

That season, as the 3A Sawtooth Central Idaho co-offensive player of the year, Loveland finished with 1,320 yards of total offense and 18 touchdowns.

On defense, he had 66 tackles, including 18 tackles for loss. He also had a pair of interceptions in 10 games.

A Michigan signee, Loveland was named the Gatorade state player of the year.

"By the time he was a senior, he just got everything," Anderson said. "He didn't need any help at all."

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