With guidance from Jake Butt, Ian Bunting is poised for a breakout year. [Fuller]

Ian Bunting

MGoQuestion: This seems like the year where you're going to see the field a lot more. What's the biggest thing you're doing to prepare for that?

"Just getting the little tweaks I'd say is the most important thing, especially at—the higher level you get to, whatever you do, the distance between being good and being great gets smaller and smaller. So I think that little tweaks like footwork or just understanding more of the whole concept or of the whole play or the whole offense, it's the little things like that that I'm going and I have been focusing on to get better."

MGoQuestion: Working behind a guy like Jake Butt, what's he been able to impart on you as an All-American?

"He's been very influential. He's been a great teacher, a great role model since I've gotten here. I'm very appreciative of that. We are always competing, him and me and the rest of the tight ends. We compete with each other but we also help each other. We're not a selfish group, like our room is very close-knit, but we also understand that we're always going to be going up against each other and competing with each other, and that just brings out the best in everyone."

MGoQuestion: Does it help knowing that Jim Harbaugh is going to be happy to play two, three, four tight ends?

"Yeah, we love it. That's music to our ears. Last year we had four-TE sets, so we love that. In our opinion, the more tight ends we have on the field, the better. If there's any opportunity for us to get on the field and make a positive impact on the game and help us win, we're all for it."

[inaudible] ...with everything you guys have got going, the returning offensive line, the running backs, the wide receivers.

"I think we can be very, very dynamic, very explosive, and very smart football-wise, very intellectual. There are a lot of guys that have been here for a while. Coming into the season not having to learn a whole new offense, there's definitely something to be said about that. The sky's the limit."

Do you expect the ball to be thrown your way a decent amount this year?

"That is not up to me. I don't make those decisions. But I would not complain. As a tight end, you love blocking, and you love catching the ball and doing what you can with it after you catch it. That's what the tight end does, especially nowadays, it's kind of an evolving position. It's not as much a glorified, other lineman. It's really evolved. As you can see with Jake, he's been a big part of that evolution. I don't know how many catches he had last year but he had a lot of catches and he did a lot with the ball after he caught it. We want to improve on that and take that to a whole other level this year."

Is taking it to a whole other level making rap videos?

"(Laughs) Yeah, I love doing that stuff. I did a little bit of that in high school. One of my best friends who lived two blocks away from me, Pat Foley is his name, he actually started a production company in high school, it's called Hued Productions. They're down in Atlanta now going to school and also doing that. He's great at what he does. In high school he just had a makeshift little studio, so we were just like, yeah, let's mess around and make some music. We both love music, and we did it, made a few songs, made a music video right before we all left for college. I guess people like it."

MGoQuestion: What's the reception from the rest of the team?

"They all love it. A lot of the guys were in the video, too, so that was a lot of fun. It's just something that is a passion of mine outside of football and outside of school. For now, that's going to get pushed to the side and it's going to be football. It's going to be focusing on winning football games for a while now."

MGoQuestion: It seems like with Harbaugh that blocking is the path to get on the field. (Bunting: "Yeah!") What have you done to take that next step?

"A lot of blocking, in my opinion, is footwork. We work on that all the time with each other, on the field during practice or even just when we have seven-on-seven or something, just spend a little time afterwards just working on footwork, steps for different types of blocks. As much as we like to catch the ball, we love blocking too. It's just fun. It's fun to go and hit someone."

[Hit THE JUMP for Grant Newsome discussing the difficulty of facing M's defense in practice and John O'Korn crashing my interview with Moe Ways.]

Facing Taco in practice has helped prepare Newsome for a starting role. [Fuller]

Grant Newsome

This was a one-on-one, so all of these are MGoQuestions.

It's your first year stepping in, Coach Harbaugh said you're one one of the starters this year. What are you doing to prepare for stepping in on a veteran line?

"I'm just trying to improve every day and get to the point where I can match what those guys bring to the table. Obviously it's a great oppotunity for me to get the chance to step in with four guys who've done it on a high level for multiple years. That's a huge opportunity for me to be able to step in and join a veteran group as opposed to try to step in and create our own identity. I think especially with Coach Drevno and Coach Harbaugh we were able to start that identity last year as a team that can not only throw the ball but can really pound the run. For me it's just about maintaining that identity that we established last year and helping to improve it."

How valuable was it last year just being able to get on the field a little bit as a sixth offensive lineman, getting that trial by fire?

"It was great. It was great to get the experience and just get all the jitters out. Being able to step on the field, you just kind of appreciate it. The best way to improve at playing football is playing football, and that's something that Coach Harbaugh and Coach [inaudible] tell us all the time. Just being able to get in a game and experience that, I think it's going to be invaluable next year."

At this point in your career, is the physical aspect of it or kind of the downloading of the playbook and working technique aspect more difficult?

"More the technique than the physical aspect now. Last year was a lot of trying to learn the playbook and grasp the concepts and grasp the little things in protection. This year it's been a lot of improving my consistently, improving my physicality and starting to establish my identity as a tackle."

You guys are going against maybe the best defensive line in the country in practice every day. What does that add and what's the biggest challenge to you, who's the toughest guy that you have to block in practice?

"It's a great resource being able to go against guys who are for the most part better that what you're going against in Saturdays during the game. It's really great for us. Obviously it's tough. Definitely you get beat a lot, but you try to beat them as much as you can. It just helps you so much on Saturdays. Just in the limited experience I got last year, I didn't face a defensive lineman who was better than what we have here."

Is there a guy in particular that you relish going up against every day in practice?

"I've been going up against Taco a lot. Taco, Chase Winovich, and then Wormley will come out some. There's a great variety of guys on our defensive line and they're all really talented, but they all kind of bring something a little bit different, so it's great to be able to see all of their different moves and techniques and styles that defensive linemen use, to learn defense."

I know it's early since you haven't hit fall camp yet, but you've got the same offense and a new defensive coordinator. Are you noticing from your spot some differences in the way the defense runs?

"Pretty much immediately with spring ball. The defense is really crazy. Coach Durkin had a really intense, blitzing defense last year but, I mean, Coach Brown is just kind of a whole new level. As an offensive lineman it was interesting for us because we were trying to learn his defense as his defense was trying to learn the defense too, which made it even more complicated. It's a great defense and I'm looking forward to seeing what it does to other people and not to us."

Is the biggest difference there the variety of blitzes and the number of them?

"I'd say so. It's a different look. That the big thing for Coach is variety, not seeing the same look twice, and that's something we really have to adjust to as an offensive line. Lining up for a play, you know what you're blocking against in the defenses you've seen them run, but if they line up in something that you've never seen, it's something you have to adapt to."

With that much thrown at you, does it make you feel better prepared to face a variety of defenses during the season?

"Definitely. Any time you can play against a great defense, and especially a defense that shows lots of different looks, it helps you so much."

Moe Ways should be the third WR on the outside this season. [Upchurch]

Moe Ways (wsg John O'Korn)

Another one-on-one, with a twist.

First of all, coming off an injury, how's your health right now?

"I feel fine. I feel good, ready to go practice tomorrow and get after it."

It sounds like there's been a lot of work with the quarterbacks and receivers during the offseason, just working together and getting a feel for each other. How much do you feel like that's helped you prepare for next year?

"Oh, a lot. Helping with timing and knowing each others' game and what we can do, what we can work better on to get ready for camp—it's a big key to our success in the fall."

Is this the year that you expect to really start seeing a significant role?

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Like I said, get better in camp every day, just go in there with a mindset of improving and getting better and working on my game and good things will definitely happen."

I think it was Coach Fisch in the spring who mentioned that you had really not dropped any balls and maybe had the best hands on the team. Is that how you feel personally?

"I mean, I work at it. That's what receivers do, catch the ball. You can't do anything without catching it. That's got to be the number one thing you do. I met, when Tom Brady came here, I asked him a question. I said, as an NFL quarterback, what do you tell your receivers? He said, well, you get paid to catch the ball, so catch the ball. I took that to heart. That's what I've been doing and we all do a good job of catching the ball."

Having a guy like Tom Brady just come in and be able to pick his brain, how remarkable is that?

"It was amazing. Great experience. I definitely took advantage of it. Things like that, that's what Harbaugh brings to our whole system, to the organization of Michigan, so it really is a blessing."

In year two in the offense, is there stuff that you're still installing this year, or is it more just a comfort level with the offense?

"We're very comfortable. We know what we're doing. We play fast and make plays and have fun doing it, so it's going to be a good fall for us this season."

Looking around at the other receivers you're playing with, what are you seeing from those guys right now?

"We're all talented. We're all big and fast and physical, we make plays, so it's really fun. We kind of compete within ourselves, see who can make the best catch, who can be perfect in one-on-ones, things like that, so we all push each other to be better and to be great every day. It's just fun playing with those guys. It's really a good group to be in."

Being over in the defense room, both Jabrill and Jourdan were talking about how they want to be receivers too (Ways laughs), how they want to get out there. Is there some friendly competition with the wideouts wanting to protect their turf there?

"Yeah, that's how it is, man. They think they can come in and play receiver (laughs). But they're great athletes, so I'm sure they could definitely do it. Those guys, they're a different breed of athlete, man, so I'm sure they can come over and make a lot of plays."

How much does it help having to go up against those guys in practice?

"Going against them and competing against them every day is really fun. It makes us better, it makes them better, and then come game day, we're ready to get after somebody else. It's really good."

The receivers and defensive backs could be two of the best position groups on the team. Is there a lot of competition there?

"(Laughs) Yeah, man, a lot of smack talk, a lot of me versus you. But it's good, though. I think our group is a little bit better, of course I'm going to say that. It's fun, though. They're a great group so it should be fun."

What's your expectation for the season personally?

"Just to have fun, to get better every day, being in positions to make plays and help the quarterback out to lead the team..."

[At this point, John O'Korn has walked over and stared at Ways until he couldn't keep a straight face.]

cc: @AceAnbender pic.twitter.com/JPuGDH1djH

— Brad Muckenthaler (@MaizeBlueNation) August 8, 2016

O'Korn: "I've heard you've been rooming with John O'Korn this summer. How do you feel about that?"

Ways: "I think John is probably one of the worst guys I've ever met in my life. Nah, he's good. He's a good guy. That's my son."

So you've got Wilton having the edge in the quarterback competition right now?

O'Korn: "Wow."

Ways: "Wilton? I don't know, man.* Who would you take?"

Man, I'm not at practice with you guys. You can't put me on the spot there. (Laughs) No, but what kind of a rapport have you guys developed while rooming together?

Ways: "This is my guy, man. He's a good guy. We kind of just chill a lot, watch movies, work out together. We've definitely built a connection that I'm always trying to translate to the field. I'm excited for that. It's going to be fun."

How much does that translate over to the field?

Ways: "I think it's important. I think a lot will [translate]. He knows me, I know him. I know his game, he knows mine. And the little things, knowing how, like, the high ball, where to throw the ball on different routes, things like that can go a long way come the season."

Thanks a lot, guys.

O'Korn: "Sorry to crash the party."

No worries.

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*Just to clarify, Ways was very much messing with me, and not at all doubting Speight's viability in the competition.