Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . C.J. Charleston. The Youngstown State transfer receiver only played 6 snaps on Saturday night, but I would like to see him play more. I think he’s more of a receiving threat than Peyton O’Leary, and while maybe there’s a small difference in run blocking, the receiving threat and big-play ability of Charleston is worth playing him more. Michigan needs better options in the passing game.
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PWO QB FTW. Well, it was a mild surprise when it was announced that former walk-on Davis Warren was named the starting quarterback for the season opener over Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle. Orji had received most of the hype in the off-season, and Tuttle is the most experienced. But Tuttle has been dealing with injuries and soreness, so he wasn’t really an option. Rumors started coming out a couple days before the game that Warren would be the guy. He finished 15/25 for 118 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception and graded out as Michigan’s #4 offensive player (69.7 on Pro Football Focus). Overall, I thought Warren was mostly accurate. He overthrew a deep shot to Tyler Morris, and he underthrew Fredrick Morris on an open post route that could have been a touchdown but turned into an interception. There were a lot of checkdowns and short throws, probably by design to make things easy for Warren in his first start. But overall, I thought Warren looked composed and accurate.
Here’s a roundup of the former Michigan player, former commits, and former coaches (or players-turned-coaches). NOTE: I will not regularly post updates about offensive linemen since stats are minimal and just posting PFF grades is kind of boring, but I did this week just to show who’s playing where and what their opening day role was.
FORMER PLAYERS
WR Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma): Anthony caught 1 pass for 4 yards in a 51-3 win over Temple. This was Anthony’s first game back after tearing his ACL last season.
LB Jeremiah Beasley (Missouri): Beasley made 1 tackle in a 51-0 win over Murray State.
QB Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State): Bowman completed 25/34 passes for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 44-20 win over South Dakota State.
LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan State): Bridgeman did not record any stats in a 16-10 win over FAU.
Name: Will Johnson Height: 6’2″ Weight: 202 lbs. High school: Grosse Pointe (MI) South Position: Cornerback Class: Junior Jersey number: #2 Last year: I ranked Johnson #2 and said he would be a starting cornerback with 50 tackles and 4 interceptions (LINK). He made 27 tackles, 1 tackle, 4 interceptions (for 80 yards and 1 touchdown), and 8 pass breakups. TTB Rating: 91
Johnson went ahead in year two and staked his claim for being one of the top cornerbacks in Michigan history. He was a First Team All-Big Ten corner and an All-American, helping to slow down some of the best receivers in the country. The 6’2″, 202-pounder limited Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison, Jr. to 5 catches for 98 yards when matched up over the past two seasons, and top-10 pick Rome Odunze for Washington had 5 total catches for 87 yards and 0 touchdowns in the national championship game.
Some of Johnson’s highlights include jumping a Harrison slant route for an interception and returning an interception for a touchdown against Minnesota. He’s been making highlight-worthy plays since the second half of his freshman year, including a mostly stellar game against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2022. Every player is going to get beaten sometimes, but it seems like challenging Johnson is almost always a poor choice.
I had a tough time picking a #1 player this season. It came down to DT Mason Graham (who was #3), TE Colston Loveland (who was #2), and Johnson. I was recently listening to the Move the Sticks podcast with Daniel Jeremiah, who talked about a study that came out comparing defensive performance between pass rush or coverage. The results of the study showed that good coverage helps out the pass rush more than a good pass rush helps out coverage. On top of that, Michigan has decent backups on the defensive line (T.J. Guy at edge, Rayshaun Benny at DT), but even Michigan’s #2 corner Jyaire Hill is unproven. If Johnson were to go down, it would likely be up to Hill and FCS transfer Aamir Hall to hold down the corner spots. Ultimately, if Johnson were to get hurt, games against Texas’s Quinn Ewers, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, and the wide receiver talent of Ohio State look a whole lot more difficult.
Name: Colston Loveland Height: 6’5″ Weight: 245 lbs. High school: Gooding (ID) Gooding Position: Tight end Class: Junior Jersey number: #18 Last year: I ranked Loveland #16a and said he would be a starting tight end with 35 catches for 435 yards and 5 touchdowns (LINK). He caught 45 passes for 649 yards and 4 touchdowns. TTB Rating: 85
Loveland took a big leap in 2023 despite the presence of Indiana transfer A.J. Barner, who then got drafted and made the Seahawks roster. Always a talented athlete, I thought he might just play second fiddle to other passing targets, but he was a prime target for quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Loveland finished #3 on the team in receptions, but it was by a thin margin: WR Roman Wilson had 48 and WR Cornelius Johnson had 47. They were a three-headed monster.
Though he has yet to have a 100-yard game, he did top the 70-yard mark four times last season, including a 4-catch, 79-yard, 2-touchdown performance against Michigan State. And he went for 5 receptions and 88 yards against Ohio State.
This year Loveland will be more of a focal point for opposing defenses because no proven receivers return. There’s no speedy downfield threat like Wilson who has made plays downfield (though Fredrick Moore and Semaj Morgan have potential), there’s no 6’3″ target on the outside like Johnson (though Amorion Walker has potential), and there’s no other proven tight end like Barner (though Marlin Klein has potential). So until those players show productivity on the field, it just makes sense that other teams would do their best to limit Loveland’s catches. He’s been talked about as the possible #1 tight end off the board for the 2025 NFL Draft, but with a weaker cast around him, it’s likely to be tougher sledding in 2024.
Prediction: Starting tight end; 40 catches for 520 yards and 4 touchdowns
