ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When it comes to tight end, very few schools, if any, feature the position more heavily than Michigan football.
The Wolverines have one of the premier TEs in the country in Colston Loveland, but we’ve also seen heavy doses of hybrid TE/fullback Max Bredeson, Marlin Klein, Zack Marshall, and true freshman Hogan Hansen. One name that was expected to be heard from but hasn’t been is redshirt freshman Deakon Tonielli.
A four-star prospect from Illinois in the 2023 class, Tonielli was seen as likely the more productive TE in the class compared to the three-star Marshall. But Marshall has played 157 snaps thus far in 2024 whereas Tonielli has yet to play a snap — on offense or special teams.
On Wednesday, tight ends coach Steve Casula shared Tonielli’s progress and more about his trajectory as he works to get onto the field.
“Deakon hasn’t had the opportunity to play yet, but that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t gotten better this season,” Casula said. “For a long time here now, on Mondays here, the guys that don’t play in the game practice and have a pretty lively, active — we call it an opportunity scrimmage. So he’s made strides in that area. He’s performed well in the training environment, certainly. He’s continuing to get better.
“And I touched on this, I think, the last time we talked — I think maybe we were talking about Marlin, about how college football is not a movie. Not everybody’s going to play as a true freshman. But I think when you come to play at a place like Michigan, if you don’t show up or you’re not in the game through your first two seasons, people kind of start to wonder, like, ‘Huh, what’s going on?’ Almost like, what’s wrong? It’s hard to play here. We have a very crowded tight end room with depth and maturity and experience and talent. And not everybody’s path to playing is the same. Not everyone’s going to kind of follow the same exact steps. But he’s doing a good job of hanging in there and continuing to work to get better.”
Not all tight ends are created the same. So what kind of tight end is Tonielli?
Loveland, Michigan’s feature tight end, is more of a pass-catching threat, whereas Bredeson is a blocker. As far as how Casula sees Tonielli, he’s a bit of a hybrid of the two, which could bode well for the future, given that Marshall appears to be more of a blocking tight end, while Hogan Hansen looks like a pass catcher.
“As a pass catcher, Deakon’s got really outstanding body control and ball skills,” Casula said. “But he’s also has the frame and the size to play in-line for us. So definitely has some real utility and valuable in that respect, the tight end, for sure. So he’s kind of a combo guy, to answer your question.”