Colston Loveland, a sophomore, and AJ Barner, a graduate student, showed up as promised throughout the entire evening. The two combined for 178 yards and three touchdowns in a game that was a breakthrough for Barner with the No. 2 Michigan football team before being rested early in the second half as the Wolverines’ lead grew to 49-0.
This season, Barner had already shown signs of his talent. Loveland remained a constant threat throughout. In contrast, Barner’s performance on Saturday was not only a breakthrough for the Indiana transfer but also a clear demonstration of how terrifying a pair they can be when playing together.
I believe it was some of the top tight end play in college football history. Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan coach, said.
And with one play, junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy may have discovered his second-best choice.
Barner’s progress has about paralleled the time it took McCarthy to feel at ease with Loveland during the previous season. A prominent member of the offense, Barner went from having only one target throughout Michigan’s entire non-conference play to eight receptions versus the Spartans.
Loveland has also quietly prepared for this weekend’s spotlight in his own right. Loveland had yet to score in the first five games of the team’s season, which had a thrilling conclusion from week nine onward. He has now scored four touchdowns in three weeks after Saturday. The 6-foot-5 monster, who previously glided past defensive backs like a butterfly, now hurts with touchdown passes caught in the air.
Since it was never a question of whether the two could play together, but rather how
Combining the two was undoubtedly a potential goldmine in an offense with a lot of hungry mouths. It did, however, require a lot of digging. Now that Barner and Loveland are in the spotlight and prepared to perform, they have gone from weeks where their main offensive responsibility was to throw unnoticed pull blocks below the line of scrimmage.
“Me and C-Love, in February, March, and April, it would be 8:30 at night, and we might go out there and get jugs (machine catches),” Barner recalled. That’s just how we are connected—”we just feed off each other and want the other to succeed.”
In East Lansing, that goal came full circle. Either Barner or Loveland found the ball in his hands on each of Michigan’s four touchdown drives in the opening half. In the meantime, Barner and Loveland both pulled in catches on two of those four. Like a well-oiled machine, the tandem operated The two patiently awaited their chance, and each found it on the same evening. They are unselfish, flawless, and no longer surprising.
Sincerity be damned, they weren’t even in the game plan. It just naturally happened,” McCarthy remarked. “That’s the most lovely scenario that could occur. The boys finished the play because they were available. They did a fantastic job, and tomorrow is also National Tight Ends Day.
Since 2019, the NFL has celebrated National Tight Ends Day in recognition of the contributions made by players like Loveland and Barner every fourth weekend in October. Therefore, it may have been appropriate that their time arrived just one day before the start of the business festivities.
But it seemed like the two couldn’t wait till Sunday. Both Barner and Loveland encountered good coverage throughout the game against what appeared to be an underperforming Michigan State defense. However, the two came through when it mattered most, whether they were receiving a blow from a defender or stretching out to make a catch.
For Michigan, Loveland’s two touchdowns were a first. It was Barner’s first touchdown ever for the Wolverines and his only one in over a full year. If the first half hadn’t been prematurely interrupted by a false start by junior running back Donovan Edwards, the transfer might have even scored his second touchdown of the day.
The work that was being done in preparation for the tight ends’ day, however, was huge, Loveland continued.
Loveland responded, “I don’t think anything has changed. “I just happened to be open in (McCarthy’s) reads at the right time today, and he just put the ball where it needed to be,” the player said. In practice, it occurs frequently; therefore, it had to occur eventually.
That defensive imbalance eventually transitioned from practice to game days as we left East Lansing. From within Schembechler Hall, the Wolverines may have been able to see this structure for some time. It’s possible that Loveland and Barner have been wasting secondary plans and schemes every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for some time. But it makes no difference.