Tag: Peyton O’Leary

Remember the name Peyton O’Leary — Michigan football spring standout

Really hope to see him shine this season! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Peyton O’Leary was originally committed to UMass Amherst to play lacrosse with his brother.

However, his dad was his high school coach after playing quarterback in college, and those family ties led the younger O’Leary back to the sport he loves. In 2021, O’Leary walked onto the Michigan football team where he played in one game.

“My senior year in high school was canceled due to COVID,” O’Leary told reporters after the Michigan spring game. “So my dad’s my coach. And I was originally gonna play lacrosse with my brother who’s there right now. So committed sophomore year high school. And then my dad played Division I quarterback at Northeastern University. So we’re kind of a football family. He’s the coach. So I didn’t want to give up on my dream yet and took a chance.”

There has been intrigue surrounding the 6-foot-3 wide receiver since last spring. Last year, his teammates told various reporters that O’Leary would be a potential surprise back in 2022. While he did appear in six games last season, O’Leary caught just one pass for four yards.

On Saturday, even though it was a spring game, O’Leary shined and fans finally got to see what his teammates have been seeing. The Massachusetts native had a game-high six catches for 126 yards and O’Leary caught the game-winning two-point conversion. J.J. McCarthy appeared to have great confidence in the crisp route runner and Davis Warren — a close friend of O’Leary — had the same connection in the second half. O’Leary told the media after the game it felt good to go out there and perform well in The Big House.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been playing well recently,” O’Leary said. “Just stick to my coaching and my everything. Just luckily the ball found me today. And Davis and I have a great connection. So it’s fun to put on display today.”

Michigan lost Ronnie Bell to the NFL and Andrel Anthony transferred away from the program. But the Wolverines return starters Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson. A.J. Henning figures to slot into significant playing time, but after those three — who knows? O’Leary has been biding his time for a couple of years now, but he believes his patience and preparation can lead to success.

“I feel like I’ve always played well in practice, and I’m just waiting for my chance,” O’Leary admitted. “Be patient, wait for my time to be coming in. That’s really it.”

O’Leary was put on scholarship a few months ago. Teammates have been talking about the wide receiver, and after hearing him talk and watching his play do the talking, it’s going to be hard for fans not to root for him going forward.

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10 Michigan football players who impressed at the spring game

These guys really stood out on Saturday! #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There were several key players who didn’t play on Saturday during the annual spring game at Michigan Stadium.

But a number of new faces that could have key roles in the fall shined on Saturday. It was a unique experience for the newcomers playing in The Big House in an actual game setting with fans present.

The Maize squad took down Jay Harbaugh and his Blue team, 22-21. Mike Hart, who coached Maize, called a two-point play with 1:44 left on the clock and then stopped the opposition to win the game,

Wolverine Wire’s Trent Knoop was in the press box on Saturday to watch the game, and he shares which 10 players were most impressive for Michigan.

To note, this isn’t in any particular order, just 10 overall players.

An unexpected Cooper Kupp-like receiver, and Michigan football’s third running back revealed

How is #Michigan going to get this many guys the ball?? #GoBlue

Michigan football has had a quality problem this offseason: How will it appease all of its playmakers? The Wolverines enter 2022 not only with all but one productive receiver from a year ago, but they also return Ronnie Bell, the star playmaker who was injured and lost for the season in last year’s season opener.

On Saturday, we didn’t get those answers. But when Jim Harbaugh spoke to Jon Jansen on the “In the Trenches” podcast, we learned the Wolverines are even deeper than expected at receiver, with a walk-on wowing coaches and his teammates so much that he’s worked his way into the two-deep and is drawing comparisons to a star NFL player.

“Yeah, the top five is Roman, Cornelius Johnson, Ronnie Bell. No receiver ‘one’ — they’re all ones, along with Andrel Anthony and A.J. Henning. Those five will be strong in a rotation as starters,” Harbaugh said. “Another guy who’s surged is Peyton O’Leary. So, Peyton O’Leary is backing up Cornelius Johnson right now at the X-position. And he’s had a Cooper Kupp-like training camp. I mean, he’s almost got that nickname around here right now. So that’s been tremendous.

“And then also Tyler Morris, Darrius Clemons, Amorion Walker — and Cristian Dixon is surging at the receiver position. So, where we said we had like really six really good receivers coming into camp, call that 10 now. There’s 10 really, really good receivers. And it’s a strong group.”

Considering what we’ve heard about the three freshmen, it’s no surprise that they’ve impressed. But O’Leary has been getting mentions from all of his teammates at media availabilities and appears poised to see the field early and often in his second year on campus.

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While that covers one position group, we still don’t really know who will be the third running back, the thunder to Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards’ lightning, now that Hassan Haskins has moved on to the NFL.

It’s no surprise that Corum and Edwards have secured the starting positions — Corum shared starting duties with Haskins a year ago, and Edwards was being groomed for the top role, simultaneously. While it appears that Harbaugh will approach the third back situation by-committee, he says one has stood out above the rest. He’ll just need more time on task.

“Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards — they’re your two No. 1s,” Harbaugh said. “And they will, as we had foreseen, they’ll be getting most of the carries. I would call the third back right now C.J. Stokes for purely getting in there and running the football.

“And as he continues to learn the offense in terms of the third down and the protections, probably lean more towards Tavi Dunlap as the third guy. But they’re very close. And also the third guy — Isaiah Gash, because he’s tremendous, tremendous in the short yardage running right now and being the third down back. So feel really strong with those five backs going into the beginning of the season.”

Finally, Harbaugh said that the tight end group, led by team captain Erick All and fifth-year behemoth Luke Schoonmaker, will not just have two, three or four big contributors in 2022. No, he estimates there will be an unfathomable eight tight ends who will see the field this upcoming season.

“And the tight ends, we talked about two starters: Schoonmaker and Erick All. Joel Honigford will play a lot, Max Bredeson has surged into that two-deep, along with Carter Seltzer and Matt Hibner,” Harbaugh said. “Situationally, Hibner — him and Max are kind of interchangeable there as well. Colston Loveland has surged as a freshman, and Hunter Neff stayed completely healthy coming off of an ACL and he’ll get a lot of playing time. But you’ll see those eight really — eight tight ends all in the mix this fall.”

Back when Jim Harbaugh took over the program, he principally had three receivers who played early and often — Jehu Chesson, Amara Darboh, and Grant Perry — two tight ends — Jake Butt and A.J. Williams — and two running backs — De’Veon Smith and Drake Johnson. Others were involved, of course, but with five receivers expected to be ‘ones,’ two ‘ones’ at running back, and two ‘ones’ at tight end, to go along with the pure numbers — 10 receivers, five running backs, and eight tight ends — it’s an embarrassment of riches on par with the elite programs in the country.

Now the program just has to figure out how to get them all the ball.

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Surprising wide receiver breaking out for Michigan football in fall camp

Interesting that he’s been mentioned multiple times by different players. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Mike Sainristil already knows what it’s like to play wide receiver for the Michigan football team. For his first three years in Ann Arbor, it’s been his forte, along with special teams. But in 2022, he’s made something of a switch to the defensive side of the ball, playing cornerback.

While Sainristil might still play on offense, that he’s spent the bulk of fall camp on defense has given him a bit of a different perspective of his original position, meaning he can share some insight on what it’s like to go up against the offensive skill players as a defensive back.

On Tuesday, we asked Sainristil who’s the toughest to defend, and while he named all the usual suspects, he did mention one obscure player on the roster.

“Roman runs was really fast. Ronnie’s really detailed with his routes, and he’s been looking really sharp since he’s been back off his injury,” Sainristil said. “Peyton O’Leary is one that’s coming up right now. Walk on guy, but I don’t even look at him that way. I think he’s right up there with anybody who’s on scholarship, he’s doing really well right now. Cornelius, Andrel, A.J. — everyone looks really good right now. So that’s a good thing for them. And it’s great for us as DBs, there’s a level of competition we need to help us get to where we want to be.”

Peyton O’Leary is a second-year player who appeared in one game in 2021. At 6-foot-3, 195-pounds, the Byfield (Mass.) Governor’s Academy walk-on already has some size that’s prototypical of a player at his position.

Sainristil isn’t the only player who mentioned O’Leary standing out in fall camp. Two weeks ago, we asked Ronnie Bell which receiver will surprise fans the most, expecting to hear a name like Andrel Anthony or Darrius Clemons. Nope — it was O’Leary who got the nod from the standout fifth-year receiver.

”I wouldn’t be surprised if the receiver that surprises people this year is Peyton O’Leary,” Bell said. “Because he has had one hell of a camp.”

Of course, it’s one thing to have solid production in camp, it’s another to get on the field and to do it in games. We have seen similar hype given to a walk-on receiver, with somewhat mixed results.

Nate Schoenle got all types of praise before even reaching the 2017 spring game. He ended up leading all the receivers, doing better than even Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black. While he did have some injuries in his career which precluded him from seeing the field, he never quite reached the hype that was heaped upon him at times. He was, however, a very productive player on special teams.

For O’Leary, it’ll similarly be a steep curve, especially considering that there are so many established playmakers expected to show out in 2022. And while those players are front of mind, you can’t dismiss another who’s earning enough respect from his peers to be mentioned as he has been, especially considering it’s been weeks apart and without any particular through-line.

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