Michigan Football: Erick All leads underrated group of tight ends

Michigan football has some talented tight ends on the roster and here’s our preview with some projections for the position in 2021.

It’s exciting to even think about, but we are now just eight days from the Michigan football opener against Western Michigan.

It’s been a long wait for the Wolverines who were last on the field against Penn State at home in an ugly loss. However, as ugly as the 2-4 season was, there is plenty of optimism heading into 2021 and one reason is the talent that exists on the roster.

Just like in 2015, there was talent leftover from Brady Hoke’s roster. Jim Harbaugh has the talent he recruited and hopefully, his new assistants will help him maximize that.

One position that needs to be more productive for Michigan football this season is at tight end and here’s our position preview:

Projected Michigan football tight end depth chart

Starter: Erick All

Backups: Matthew Hibner, Louis Hansen and Luke Schoonmaker 

There was a lot of hype surrounding All going into last season but he didn’t really deliver and managed just 12 catches for 82 yards. That equated to a yards per catch average of just 6.8.

The former wide receiver and four-star recruit has the potential to make a much bigger impact and it’s always been said he has some of the best hands on the team.

However, as we all know, he struggled with the drops last season. The drops are a mental thing. Davante Adams, one of the NFL’s best wideouts, had issues with drops during the early stages of his career and now, he catches everything.

The point is that All just needs to find his confidence. Once he does that, the production will follow and this season, I see All catching 20-30 passes for around 300 yards.

Those numbers aren’t eye-popping or anything, but I just see guys like Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson being the first targets in the passing game, along with Daylen Baldwin and A.J. Henning.

There has been some positive buzz about guys like Matthew Hibner and Luke Schoonmaker, but the guy I’m keeping an eye on is Louis Hansen.

Hansen was ranked as a top-100 prospect according to Rivals and of all the 2021 signees, I think he will come through as the biggest sleeper — the unexpected star.

The 6-foot-6, 252-pound tight end out of Massachusetts was overlooked, as many Norhteast prospects are — Kwity Paye and Cornelius Johnson come to mind.

Hansen could be next and I’d expect him to see the field this year, although his true impact probably won’t be felt until 2022.