Tag: Marlin Klein

Sherrone Moore updates multiple Michigan football player injuries before MSU game

Could #Michigan have some key players back for the Spartans? #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football continues to have some injury concerns as the season progresses.

Cornerback Will Johnson has missed considerable stretches throughout the season and the Wolverines have now gone two straight games without starting left tackle Myles Hinton. Center Dominick Giudice was injured going into Week 6 but he was ultimately supplanted by Greg Crippen, who continues to play even now that Giudice appears to be healthy.

In terms of Johnson and Hinton, head coach Sherrone Moore was noncommittal about their chances to play against rival Michigan State on Saturday, but notes that Hinton looks likely to return to the lineup.

“I think we’ll see again this weekend,” Moore said. “Myles looks like he’s trending in a really good direction.”

Johnson wasn’t the only one to leave the game early against Illinois on Saturday. Tight end Marlin Klein, the nominal backup to Colston Loveland who tends to be on the field at the same time, left the game in the first half on a cart. However, it does appear that he isn’t suffering from what looks to be a long-term injury as Moore notes that there’s a chance that Klein returns to the lineup this week.

“Yeah, working through something. We’ll see what the doctor says, if he practices this week,” Moore said. “Think he’ll get back into it to tomorrow — probably tomorrow, Wednesday. But think he’ll be in a good place. But we’ll see.”

Michigan is without cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows for the season and safety Rod Moore is still working through a long-term injury after tearing his ACL in spring ball. Defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny — who has had his best year thus far — missed this past week and freshman running back Jordan Marshall has been out since early in the season.

Final 2024 Michigan football preseason position analysis: Tight End

Besides Colston Loveland, who will be the other tight ends who will step up for Michigan football?

Primer

Michigan football has the best tight end in the country in Colston Loveland but the question is who will also play big factors this season at the position. Max Bredeson will play multiple roles within the room, from traditional TE to fullback to H-back. Marlin Klein may be the more traditional tight end who will line up often opposite Loveland, but others will work into the mix.

Projected starters: Colston Loveland, Max Bredeson
Rotation: Marlin Klein, Deakon Tonielli, Zack Marshall, Jalen Hoffman (FB)

Position outlook

Considering all of the hype surrounding Loveland this offseason, he very well could see frequent double teams. He’ll also split out wide and act as a jumbo receiver. Bredeson will most likely be deployed as a fullback more often than not. We’ll see a lot of Klein in-line, especially when Loveland is split out wide. He’s been mentioned as the fastest player in the room and has a lot of potential. Then the question rests on the usage of the sophomores in Tonielli and Marshall — both of whom have been praised during the offseason.

But there are also two freshmen who enrolled early in Brady Prieskorn and Hogan Hansen. Could either do similar to Loveland and find themselves seeing early playing time? The room is loaded, thus getting onto the field will be difficult. But there are a lot of playmakers.

At fullback and H-back, if it’s not Bredeson, walk-on Jalen Hoffman figures to be the player ready to go in rotation.

Why Michigan football might have its best defensive line ever in 2024

Wolverines offensive players share what it’s been like to go up against the defensive line in practice and rotational players standing out.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football has no shortage of game-wreckers up front on the defense. It may be the best defensive front the Wolverines have ever had, if it plays up to its potential.

You can look at it two ways when it comes to those up front on offense — they either have the misfortune of having to go up against the likes of Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and the myriad edge rushers, or they have the pleasure of getting better due to the high-level competition.

As junior tight end Marlin Klein sees it, it’s the latter. As a result of facing high-end talent in practice every day, the games are easier than the brutality of facing off against his own teammates.

“I don’t recall like, a specific ‘Welcome to College’ moment, but I think it helps us a lot just going against the best defense in the country every single day,” Klein said. “That makes it easier on Saturdays. Guys like TJ (Guy), Derrick (Moore), like all those guys — Josaiah (Stewart), those guys are the best in the country. So going against them is going to help us a lot and make our job easier on the weekends.”

While those guys will be game-wreckers (and most of who he mentioned are starters), Michigan will need depth in order to continue the high-level of execution that we’ve seen the past couple of years.

Playing right guard, senior Giovanni El-Hadi has to face off against the interior defensive line all of the time, so who are the tougher players who come in via the rotation — outside of Graham, Grant, and Rayshaun Benny?

“Enow (Etta)’s been really good. Trey (Pierce),” El-Hadi said. “They’re both strong, quick, Enow’s got a lot moves in this bag. Trey, more bull with power, and he’ll do a nice counter.

“So the guys behind (Grant, Graham, and Benny), we have a really good D-line. They all could go out there and play, obviously. You know how (Grant) and Mason and Rayshaun are — they got everything in their bag.”

It sounds like Michigan has five defensive tackles that could rotate (as it did a year ago) and multiple on the edge — though that might be more of a mystery leading up into the season.

Regardless, there are a lot of players on the front who could start at just about any school in the nation. And the Wolverines, assuming all or most play up to their potential, could be much better for it, even after losing the two starting edge rushers and DT Kris Jenkins from a year ago.

Joel Klatt lists three Michigan football players that stood out in the spring game

Watch out for these three this fall. #GoBlue

Joel Klatt has seen a lot of Michigan football over the years, and he admits this year may be different — but still kind of the same.

On his post-spring game reaction video on the Wolverines, Klatt noted that while the coaching staff and personnel will look a lot different, the mission and tactics used to achieve said mission are the same.

There are some returning players expected to carry the load, such as Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham, Colston Loveland and Donovan Edwards. But if the maize and blue want to return to the College Football Playoff and continue building on the past three years, some players previously unknown to the national audience will have to step up.

On Tuesday, Klatt shared three Michigan football players who could step up based on what he saw from the field on Saturday.

“Who are some of the guys that maybe you don’t know about that really impressed me on Saturday?” Klatt said. “On the edge, a guy named TJ Guy — not just a guy, but TJ Guy. A sack, good pressure throughout. A big reason they were successful was the fact that they could rotate throughout the defensive line, specifically at the edges. So TJ Guy in rotation is going to be important. Now is he going to be asked to be in a star, leading role, get 10 sacks? No. But if he’s a guy that can have production, can be on the field in critical moments against big opponents, that’s going to help them become a bigger defense overall, because then the starters — like Josaiah Stewart — won’t have to play the kinds of snaps he would otherwise have to play. So a guy like TJ Guy would be very important.

“How about Zeke Berry? He flashed in Saturday’s game. Coach Moore talked about it with me on the field. Charles Woodson was talking about it as well. He was constantly around the ball and he’s going to looking to fill that role that was left, a huge gaping hole by Mike Sainristil, who’s one of the best defenders not only on their team but in the country. I think towards the end, I would categorize him as the best defender on the best defense in college football. You’re gonna have to replace that guy. Zeke Berry made a lot of plays on that defense on Saturday and he’s a guy that they’ll really be looking to to be productive next year.

“On the offensive side, it’s going to be important that they have a second tight end. Because Colston Loveland is probably the best tight end in the country. They need a second because of their philosophy, their structure, the way they like to run offense. They want to be in 12 personnel — one back, two tight ends. So they need another tight end. Watch out for Marlin Klein. Marlin Klein is a guy that played a lot of soccer in his youth, is fairly new to football, so again, he’s perfect for this development structure that Michigan has. And grew up in Germany. He’s fast. He had four catches on Saturday. Didn’t really get out but they say he may be one of the fastest players on the team. His emergence will be huge. If you can flex out Colston Loveland and guy that can run 4..4, 4.35 in a guy like Marlin Klein? That’s dangerous! And that’s very dangerous in an offense that could feature a running quarterback.”

National Signing Day: Michigan football signs Marlin Klein

#Michigan’s longest-tenured commit in the 2022 class!

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Ratings

Stars Overall Position State
247Sports 3 – 28 44
Rivals 3 – 26 45
ESPN 3 – 17 75
On3 4 – 19 31
247Sports Composite 3 538 29 53
On3 Consensus 4 435 22 41

Vitals

Hometown Raban Gap (Ga.) Nacoochee School
Projected Position Tight end
Height 6-foot-6
Weight 215-pounds

Recruitment

Originally from Germany, Klein wasn’t the first pledge to Michigan football’s 2022 class, but he is now the longest tenured, as the players who committed before him dropped out.

His recruitment was relatively quiet, but he did have offers from Georgia, Florida State, Cincinnati, Ole Miss, Michigan State, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, and more.

Readiness Level

Likely a year or two away from being a contributor.

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Film

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2022 3-star Georgia tight end commits to Michigan

The Wolverines picked up their third commitment of the 2022 cycle.

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It appears that the maize and blue have added once again to the 2022 class, gaining the third commitment of the cycle.

But it was done quietly this time around. No hat dance, no announcement on live TV. There wasn’t even a Twitter post (at least at the time of this writing).

No, 2022 Rabun Gap (GA) Nacoochie School three-star tight end Marlin Klein did things the old fashioned way — simply called the coaches and told them he was in. The news was first reported by 247Sports’ Steve Lorenz.

Eventually, Klein did take to Instagram to announce his commitment, letting his followers know that he’s all in for Michigan football.

View this post on Instagram

COMMITTED!!!!!〽️〽️〽️

A post shared by MARLIN KLEIN (@marlinklein17) on

Klein is rated a three-star at No. 371 overall in the 2022 class. He’s the No. 18 tight end and No. 30 player in the state of Georgia according to the 247Sports Composite.

With his commitment, Michigan moves up from No. 12 to No. 6 in the 2020 247Sports Team Rankings.