deakon tonielli

Previously: The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver.

THE POTATOMAN COMETH

RATING: 5

Depth Chart

[Barron]

Last year's preview had a brief aside about COLSTON LOVELAND [recruiting profile]. It made a very bad prediction about playing time:

…true freshmen COLSTON LOVELAND and MARLIN KLEIN have a 0% chance of seeing meaningful snaps without a zombie apocalypse.

Uhhh no. Bad prediction. At least this from the post-Illinois UFR was better:

I think he's getting a crucial chunk pass off PA in The Game.

Yessir!

That preview did single Loveland out as the freshman tight end who was supposedly the Next One, per insider chatter. By the time the Big Ten Championship game rolled around, he was the Current One:

And lo, here we are. I'm not sure I can recall a guy going into his true sophomore season who 1) hasn't really played a lot and 2) has the world convinced he's going to be an All-American like Loveland. Here's BTN analyst Rick Pizzo after taking in a Michigan practice:

"You have a tight end in Colston Loveland that I think may be the breakout star in the Big Ten this year. Mark this down: he is going to be an NFL All-Pro at tight end."

Well then.

[After THE JUMP: why]

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt, DT Trey Pierce, OT Evan Link, OT Myles Hinton (Tr), OT LaDarius Henderson (Tr), OG Nathan Efobi, IOL Amir Herring, OC Drake Nugent (Tr)

Oswego, IL – 6'5"/230
		247: 6'6/215                            3.94*	4*, 90, NR overall #20 TE, #5 IL
		On3: 6'6/215                            4.01*	4*, 90, NR overall #19 TE, #4 IL
		Rivals: 6'5/215                            3.63*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #47 TE, #14 IL
		ESPN: 6'5/215                            3.89*	3*, 79, #32 MW #13 TE-Y, #6 IL
		Composite                            3.93*	4*, #413/#397 Ovr #20/#23 TE, #6 IL
		MGoAverage                            3.87*	3.5*, #479/797 Ovr #31/52 TEs since '90
		YMRMFSPA	Luke Schoonmaker
Other Suitors	Illinois (yoink!), Purdue
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello by Alex Drain
Notes	NIL gear. 2020 National 7v7 team.
Film:
Senior Highlights:Junior Highlights:Hudl

I cannot get confirmation on this story but it's too good not to share anyways. You know how Harbaugh's programs always seem to have an eye for tight end prospects? Well the story goes someone in the recruiting office was sliding Tonielli highlight links into emails and tricking people into clicking on them. When early commit Andrew Rappleyea decided the depth chart at PSU was more scalable than the one at TE-U, I imagine this individual was all too happy for the internal love for Tonielli to be out in the open. YMMV whether Rappleyea's departure was more relevant to Tonielli or Zack Marshall. Anyway this was the first commit for TE coach Grant Newsome.

When Tonielli committed he was a low four-star to two sites, with Rivals lagging behind. I assumed they would catch up, but they left him down in the meh 3-star range the whole cycle. That's actually useful, since Rivals is the site that most tends to rank guys based on where they are now as opposed to projecting. And the book on Tonielli is there's a lot of tight ending to learn.

[After THE JUMP: Stop me if you've heard this before but…] 

Michigan landed a second TE for their 2023 class on Saturday afternoon in the form of 3* Zack Marshall: 

COMMITTED TO THE 〽️ pic.twitter.com/TUSZltwtnJ

— Zack Marshall (@TheZackMarsh) August 13, 2022

The Wolverines already have Deakon Tonielli in the class, and now add Marshall to complete their 2023 haul at the position. Marshall is a name who only appeared on Michigan's radar recently and the courtship was rather quick. Marshall is a 3* in the composite, ranked #684 overall from Carlsbad, CA. The other primary suitor was Utah. A Hello will be coming in the near future. 

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