Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

Quickly: Solid, athletic Y TE with multiple years of production at Michigan and proficiency in many areas of the game. 

Draft Projection: Seems like a standard mid-round TE, probably 3rd to 4th round. Schoonmaker doesn't do much of anything that make NFL Draft scouts go crazy, but in a deep TE draft where players like Darnell Washington and Michael Mayer are the sexy names threatening the first round, Schoonmaker could be a great value pick deep in the draft. He's got elite athleticism for the position, with ideal speed, size, and strength to play TE in the NFL. He rarely jumped off the page at Michigan and his age (25 in September) likely limits his upside, but Schoonmaker feels like a solid high floor pick that a team will zero in on. 

NFL Comp: I am far from an expert on this kind of thing, but Dawson Knox and Cole Kmet are names I've seen thrown around for Schoonmaker. 

What's his story: Schoonmaker came to Michigan back in the 2018 recruiting class as a pretty low rated 3* out of Connecticut. At the time he committed, multiple sites didn't even have rankings of him and one had him in mid-major territory. As a senior in HS he transitioned from a left-handed QB to a more receiving-focused role, setting him up for his jump to college. When Schoonmaker committed to Michigan, he seemed to be comparable to two Michigan TEs at the time, Sean McKeon in that he was a low-rated, TE-shaped person from New England, and Zach Gentry in that he was a former HS QB moving to the position. There was good reason to believe in Schoonmaker's development as a result. Another reason was that he seemed to scream "Jim Harbaugh type of guy":  

Schoonmaker arrived at Michigan in the fall of 2018 and did the standard redshirt year at a program that was reasonably deep at TE. In year #2 he got on the field consistently as a special teamer, occasionally seeing time on offense and catching two passes, one of which for a TD. The third season in 2020 was abbreviated and again saw Schoonmaker mostly buried on the depth chart, appearing in all six games but not recording a reception. 

2021 was the breakout for Schoonmaker, though he was still below Erick All on the depth chart. He caught 17 passes for 165 yards, including 3 TDs, and really shined against Indiana when All was out with injury. That foreshadowed his senior season, when All went down with injury early in the year and Schoonmaker became the #1 tight end. His production doubled, up to 35 catches for 418 yards, though the emergence of true freshman Colston Loveland overshadowed Schoonmaker some by the end of the season. That was around the time that Schoonmaker battled injury and missed a pair of games (in addition to an early exit from the Fiesta Bowl). He did enough to earn All-B1G team according to the coaches, while Schoonmaker was a media honorable mention both seasons that he played significant snaps. 

Positives: Athletic, with good size for the position. Runs fine routes and has reliable hands, very few drops of routine balls. Does a lot of things well, grew into being an effective blocker over time. 

Negatives: Nothing that really wows you in the receiving game (not much circus catch ability), doesn't maul on the ground like some of the Michigan TEs he played with. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: What others say, grading, video, conclusion]

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What others say: PFF graded Schoonmaker rather modestly, 15th overall among TEs with at least 25 targets this past season and an overall grade of 72.7. His receiving grade of 78.7 ranked 10th, grading out better in pass blocking than in run blocking in their charting. Among NFL Draft types, Dane Brugler of The Athletic has put together his "Beast" draft guide and I'll share with you a few of the positives and negatives on Schoonmaker ($): 

STRENGTHS: Natural size/speed athlete with a solid build … smooth, punctual route runner and coordinated in and out of his breaks … lulls defenders with his stride length … releases cleanly off the line and into his routes … terrific body control to adjust his target window and quickly become a ball carrier after the catch

WEAKNESSES: Better athleticism in his routes than after the catch … missed tackles were rare on his film, limiting his RAC plays … inconsistent tracking skills with smaller hands and will use his body to trap the ball … needs to get his eyes to the quarterback quicker out of breaks to make himself more available 

And here's Danny Kelly of The Ringer: 

Schoonmaker is a silky-smooth mover with good balance and speed. He is quick off the line, avoids jams and chucks, and takes long strides that allow him to cover a lot of ground on crossers and dig routes. ... Schoonmaker spends much of his time attached to the line and brings a lot of experience as a blocker, both in the pass game and as a run blocker. He shows good knee bend to mirror and stay square, and is tenacious at the point of attack, working hard to sustain ... Schoonmaker lacks twitch and separation skills at the top of his routes. He was mostly an underneath target for the Wolverines, and struggled in contested catch situations

Both scouting reports cited Schoonmaker's age as a downside to his profile, limiting Schoonmaker's room for growth, in addition to modest collegiate stats (which we noted was partially due to Michigan having a talented TE room). 

CAREER CHARTING BY GAME

The following numbers are based on the 2020-22 charting in Upon Further Review. For runs, one point is roughly equivalent to an action that affected the play by 5 yards, i.e. zero points are awarded for simply filling an assignment. In pass protection offensive linemen only get negative points for allowing successful rushes: –1 if their breakdown gave the QB a chance to escape it (or if fault was shared), –2 if it didn't, and the rare –3 goes out when he offered no resistance. Protection% is dropback snaps minus total pass pro negatives over opportunities.

Blocking (2019 excluded because he appeared so infrequently): 

2020 Opponent	Pos	Run+	Run-	Total	Pass Pro	Notes
Minnesota	G	3	1	+2	--	Functional.
Michigan State	G					DNC
Indiana	G					DNC
Wisconsin	G	1	4	-3	--	Major culprit on goal line stand
Rutgers	G	1.5	1	+0.5	--	--
Penn State	G	0.5		+0.5	--	--
2021 Opponent	Pos	Run+	Run-	Total	Pass Pro	Notes
Western Michigan	T	4.5	0	+4.5	--	Caved a few edges.
Washington	T	7	7	0	--	Not much different than Honigford
Northern Illinois	T	8.5	3	+5.5	--	There be donkeying here
Rutgers	T	8	5	+3	--	Should've had a TD, but still a clumsy route runner
Wisconsin	T	3	11	-8	--	Got Sanborn'd. Blew a couple of assignments too.
Nebraska	T	13	6	+7	---	Michigan runs on Schoon
Northwestern	T	6.5	8.5	-2	--	Secret reason M is better at power than zone stuff (he is).
Michigan State	T	8	4.5	+3.5	--	Solid day vs meh linebackers
Indiana	T	5.5	7	-1.5	--	Did some things, is no Erick All
Penn State	T	4.5	8	-3.5	--	Asked to do super-hard things against Ebiketie and Luketa.
Maryland	T	2	4	-2	--	Is no All or Hongiford but something in between. Also very open.
Ohio State	T	9.5	4	+5.5	--	Closed the game with some of his best ass-kicking yet.
Iowa	T	9	2	+7	-2	And that's saying something because Schoon balled out.
Georgia	T	1	2	-1	--	Wasn't Iowa out there.
2022 Opponent	Pos	Run+	Run-	Total	Pass Pro	Notes
Colorado State	TE	8.5	3.5	+5	--	Moving people. Couple of misses in space.
Hawaii	TE	8.5	0	+8.5	--	Hello
UConn	TE	1.5	0	+1.5	--	Much more 3-wide in this game.
Maryland	TE	11.5	3	+8.5	--	also +1 for a YAC event. My man.
Iowa	TE	11	0	+11	--	Inserts upped his blocking usage a bit. Not beat once.
Indiana	TE	8	2.5	+5.5	--	YMMV on guys shooting inside and barely getting contact.
Penn State	TE	11	4.5	+6.5	-1	YMMV on holding call, which would take 3 off this total. I think it's preposterous.
Michigan State	TE	7.5	5	+2.5	--	Lots of half points for doing job.
Rutgers	TE	9.5	2	+7.5	--	One MA, otherwise no negatives.
Nebraska	TE					DNP
Illinois	TE					DNP
Ohio State	TE	0.5	1	-0.5	--	Still dinged maybe?

You can see his run blocking grades saw a notable uptick from 2021 to 2022, curtailed at the end by his late season injury. 

Catching: 

	THIS WEEK
Player	Uncb	Circus	Tough	Routine
2019				2/2
2020	--	--	--	--
2021	4	2/6	1/3	14/14
2022	3	1/3	3/5	24/25

Very sure-handed with the routine catches, didn't bring in too many that asked him to do more than that. 

Video of All Varieties: Into the end zone! 

Does anyone like a first career TD catch?: 

One of his rare circus catches: 

He can even catch a trick play!: 

Your run of the mill Schoon catch: 

And now we transition into him as a blocker: 

More good:

Mhmm:

And some bad: 

Another: 

And back to the good to close (out in space!):

Never Erick All 2021, but he can block! 

Summary and Projection: Of all the Michigan players headed into the 2023 NFL Draft, Schoonmaker may well be the one who engenders the fewest memories or strong gut reaction among fans, aside from perhaps Ryan Hayes. Where Olu Oluwatimi and Jake Moody were decorated with awards, Ronnie Bell was a forever Wolverine and leader, and Mazi Smith, Mike Morris, and DJ Turner II were huge pieces of the defense, Schoonmaker had a low profile. He was overshadowed in 2021 by Erick All, as well as in the start of 2022, then got his moment in the sun when All went down... which lasted not even the remainder of the season as Schoonmaker sustained injuries and Colston Loveland became the new thing of the moment at the position. 

Yet that fan memory doesn't have any bearing on who Luke Schoonmaker is as an NFL Draft prospect, and I think he is a solid one. The reason I brought up the fan memory is it's similar to the breakdown of Schoonmaker as a prospect: ho-hum, but stellar. There is no one element of Schoonmaker's game that makes him a must-have NFL prospect, much like there was no one moment that etched his name into Michigan lore (catching the Mullings pass might be the one, but even that is remembered more for the guy who threw it). Schoonmaker was a good player in most games he played at Michigan and is good at most elements of being a TE, which should convey well to the NFL. Want him to run block? He can probably do that decently well. Want him to go run a route? Schoony can do that too. 

Michigan has a solid track record of putting TEs into the NFL under Jim Harbaugh. Jake Butt's pro career didn't work out due mostly to injury, but Sean McKeon has been bouncing up and down from the practice squad to the active NFL roster and Zach Gentry had 19 catches last season for Pittsburgh. Schoonmaker's strong combine day shows off his athleticism and few Michigan fans had any complaints about him as a player; the tape is solid. He never emerged as a top-flight mauler or a featured weapon the passing game, and likely will never wow an NFL team in either phase, but as a #2 TE on a roster who can help out in both the blocking and receiving aspect of the game, I could easily see him sticking around the league for quite a few years.