Michigan football news: Another Wolverines legend declares for NFL draft

Another Michigan football legend is headed to the NFL draft as Colston Loveland, the junior tight end, declared for the draft on his Instagram account.

The former four-star tight end from Gooding, Idaho, hauled in 117 receptions for 1,466 yards and 11 touchdowns during his U-M career. He also averaged 12.5 yards per reception. Despite a poor QB situation, Loveland was still productive in 2024 catching 56 passes for 582 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games.

Loveland was unable to play against Ohio State due to injury, but no Michigan football fan will ever forget his 45-yard touchdown reception against Ohio State to give the Wolverines the lead in the third quarter of "The Game" back in 2022. He also caught a 25-yard touchdown against Purdue in the Big Ten championship game as a freshman.

Two of Loveland's best performances came in wins over "Little Brother" (Michigan State). In 2023, Loveland caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns, before catching six passes for 67 yards in a win over Michigan State as a junior, ensuring he never lost to a rival with the Wolverines. Loveland is also third in school history among tight ends in receptions and receiving yards, as well as tied for second in receiving touchdowns.

Loveland is expected to be a first-round pick and he'll be a dangerous weapon in the NFL. Who knows, maybe he'll end up with Jim Harbaugh.

Alex Orji enters the transfer portal

The Alex Orji experiment at quarterback is over for Michigan football as the former starting quarterback for the Wolverines entered the transfer portal on Friday.

Orji started three games for the Wolverines last season and was 2-1 as a starter. However, he struggled throwing the football and Michigan didn't do a great job of adapting the system to a running quarterback.

However, Orji who had a special package during the 2023 national title run, also had a 29-yard run against Ohio State this season, which was a longer play from scrimmage than any Buckeye in the 2024 edition of "The Game."

With Bryce Underwood and maybe Billy Edwards transferring in from Maryland, the writing was on the wall for Orji and this move makes sense for both sides.