Michigan Football: Ian Bunting Will Be Most Improved In 2016
Knowing Jim Harbaugh and his staff, most of the players on the 2016 Michigan squad will improve greatly this season, making it hard to pick just one player for this distinction.
Despite the difficulty of trying to pin down a single player who will make the biggest improvement this season, I think Ian Bunting will emerge as a legitimate offensive weapon for Michigan football this year.
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The situation between Jake Butt and Bunting is similar to the situation between Butt and Devin Funchess a few years ago (before Funch moved permanently to receiver): Butt was a big, athletic tight end that spent most of his time on offense blocking and running the occasional button hook, while Funchess was running long outs or seam routes from the other side of the line.
Last year’s dynamic between Bunting and Butt was similar: Bunting came through on a few 3rd and short situations, but spent most of his time near the line while Butt was terrorizing smaller safeties or slower linebackers downfield.
The few differences between the two situations are important here, though. Other teams focused on Funchess, but not to the extent that teams will be focusing on Butt this year. He’s on most everyone’s preseason All-American list and is expected to be by far the best tight end in the Big Ten.
Jehu Chesson is going to be great, but most teams’ first priority will be to shut down Butt.
The other major difference this year is that Butt can actually block, which Funchess, for all of his talents, never really could. Butt was never utilized to his full potential in the passing game until Funchess moved to receiver full time because he was the only tight end on the roster—even as a freshman—that could credibly block and catch passes.
Not so this year. Both Bunting and Butt are huge players with nimble feet and good blocking and route running fundamentals. Tim Drevno used Bunting as an extra lineman on a lot of plays that involved Butt running more than 10 yards downfield last year, but that script could be flipped this year.
It makes sense: The opponent will be gearing up to stop Michigan’s (arguably) most potent offensive weapon in Butt, but the offense could keep him on the line to pass protect or even run him out into the flat to draw a double team, freeing up Bunting to break downfield.
In his few opportunities to demonstrate it last year, Bunting showed he has relatively good hands and knows how to use his big frame (6-foot-7, 243 pounds) to either box out or go over opponents.
Now, the first option at tight end will always be the potential (likely?) All-American, but one thing Harbaugh has shown consistently is that he’s willing to play the long game with competent and athletic, yet underutilized, players like Bunting: keep him in his normal role for a while, then all of the sudden he’s 60 yards downfield.
We saw Jake Rudock use Butt more and more as a safety valve as the season wore on last year, but whoever’s under center this year may not have that luxury. Butt is going to be a major focus of every opponent. Hopefully Bunting can step into that role this season.
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More than anything, it kind of gives me the chills thinking about Bunting being incorporated into the offense consistently and effectively. A Harbaugh power offense with two huge, athletic tight ends that can block and catch passes? That’s pretty exciting.