To this day, Tony Annese and Steve Casula still don’t agree on who called the play.
It was the fourth quarter of the Anchor-Bone Classic in 2018, the historic Division II rivalry cleverly named after Grand Valley State’s mascot, the Lakers, and Ferris State’s mascot, the Bulldogs. The game had been back and forth all night long; both teams struggled to find offensive consistency from drive to drive. Just a few minutes remained when Ferris State made its way into scoring territory, facing a fourth-and-2 with the game on the line.
Annese, Ferris State’s head coach, claims it was Casula’s idea to call the play that came next. Casula, the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator at the time, doesn’t remember it like that.
“Alright, so here’s the deal,” Casula told The Michigan Daily. “The version he tells of the story, and the version I tell of the story, are two different versions. He claims I talked him into this play, and I would tell you that he talked to me into the play.”
Whoever’s decision it was, the play itself was undeniable. Ferris State lined up tight, motioning slot receiver Jevon Shaw in front of quarterback Jayru Campbell before snapping the ball to Campbell. As Shaw ran behind him, Campbell tossed the ball back to Shaw, and Campbell — after staying in the pocket for just a moment — bounced left around the line as Shaw sailed a pass his way. The play, dubbed 3 Tight Ring Motion Throwback, had been in the Bulldogs’ bag for a while.
“Earlier in the game, we had used this same motion and not snapped the ball,” Casula said. “I think in the second quarter we had done it and they jumped offsides, and we knew that they were in cover zero, and we had a good sense that nobody was going to cover the quarterback.”
By the time Grand Valley State noticed Campbell, he had already ran into the end zone untouched. Three years later, Shaw described the game-winning touchdown pass as the most memorable play of his career. Casula, who had watched Ferris State run that play in practice two years, still refuses to take all of the credit.
“It was our play, it was Ferris State’s play,” Casula said. “Coach Annese has always kind of had the genius of recruiting slot receivers or receivers that had been high school quarterbacks. They still do it to this day. … I didn’t design that play alone or any other there. Coach Annese and his son, Steve Annese, those two deserve every bit as much credit for the success we had on offense while I was there as I ever could. So that’s not my play. Ferris State’s play.”
Talk to Casula more, and this becomes a theme.
Now the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach for Michigan, Casula’s focus remains on the players and the team he coaches. For Casula, reminiscing on his journey isn’t nearly as interesting as reflecting on everyone else who’s been a part of it.
***
In the early months of 2012, Annese, in his first year as Ferris State’s coach, made the 90-minute drive down to Kalamazoo to watch Western Michigan’s spring ball practice. Right away, an eager 25-year-old tight ends coach approached Annese with an abundance of knowledge about his career and the landscape of high school and college football in the state of Michigan.
The two had a lot in common, and Annese left impressed.
Casula and Annese crossed paths at camps and clinics for years after, and when the Bulldogs had an opening in 2017, Annese only made one call. In his first season as Ferris State’s offensive coordinator, Casula helped the Bulldogs to an 11-2 record and a Division II Championships quarterfinals appearance. For Annese, that debut confirmed what he had already known all along.
“He’s a genius, like, I knew it from the beginning,” Annese said. “He’s a very, very bright guy. I don’t know what his IQ is, but it probably doubles mine. … If I said, right now, ‘Hey, we were in the second quarter against this team, remember when we ran this play? Can you remember what we named it?’ He would rattle it off.”
Casula denies the notion that he’s some sort of walking football encyclopedia, or that he’s smarter than any one of his peers. Football is just something that has always come naturally to him.
***
Drew Brees at Purdue, Charles Woodson at Michigan, Donovan McNabb at Syracuse were just some of the players that inspired Casula in middle school. Then it was Chris Leak, Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin at Florida, and Chip Kelly’s Oregon teams later on.
Casula watched those dynamic offensive players every week, in awe of their ability. He was set on trying to figure out the complexities of each play.
Casula played offensive line in high school, and was ready to continue in college before a shoulder injury changed his plans. When Casula realized his career wouldn’t continue as a player, he enrolled at Delaware. Without football, he felt empty.
“It was the worst fall ever,” Casula said. “In my sophomore year of college, I started coaching high school football. I really, really missed not just football, but being part of a team and a cause greater than oneself, and I’ve been a coach ever since.”
Casula was the freshman team’s defensive coordinator and the offensive line coach for Delcastle Technical High School under Mike Pietlock, Casula’s coach when he was in high school. He’ll be the first to admit that he should’ve balanced it more, but back then, all Casula thought about was football. Soon enough, Casula was drawing up some of his own plays.
“I’ve been drawing plays for as long as I could probably remember,” Casula said. “My mom claims that I was doing it in the third and fourth grade … on notebooks and pieces of paper. … That’s one of those tales that may have grown as time’s gone on.”
Casula worked his way up from high school to return to the Blue Hens, this time as an offensive assistant for two years. A few years later, Casula coached the offensive line, tight ends and fullbacks at Western Michigan. In 2017, five years after initially introducing himself to Annese, he was working alongside him on Ferris State’s staff.
Of all the coaches that Casula has worked with, Annese has had the biggest influence on him. That game-winning playcall sums it up perfectly.
“Forever, he’s always said that it was my idea,” Casula said. “If there’s one example about who he is, he wants his coaches, his players, to get all the credit. That’s who he is.”
Ask Casula about the guys that he’s recruited and coached, and you’ll hear a little bit of Annese in his words.
When Casula first joined Michigan’s coaching staff, as an offensive analyst in 2019, one of his roles included recruiting walk-ons — talented high school players that were under the radar and would join the roster without scholarship. During that time, Casula’s recruits included Max Bredeson, Joe Taylor and Davis Warren.
Bredeson, the graduate fullback, is a captain for the Wolverines. Warren started at quarterback in Michigan’s biggest games last year. Taylor was named Special Teams Player of the Year in 2024, and is one of the Wolverines most impactful players in that unit.
“I take a lot of pride in how those guys have come here and played, but to be honest with you, that has nothing to do with me,” Casula said. “I maybe have started their process here, but what (wide receiver Peyton O’Leary), Max, Joe, Davis, any of those guys have come here to do, that’s all them.”
That humility falls right in line with Casula’s philosophy, and continues to come up the more he talks about the other guys that he’s coached. Senior tight end Marlin Klein? Casula will say Klein’s the one who deserves all the credit for his growth. First-round pick Colston Loveland?
“Colston did more for me as a human being, as a coach, than I did for him,” Casula said.
That modesty isn’t ignorance, of course. Casula might not say how important he is to Michigan, but he knows what makes him a good coach.
“When I was a young coach, I thought if I knew everything, I’d be a really good coach,” Casula said. “And then eventually, over time, I kind of figured out it’s not about what I know, it’s what my players know. … That’s what it’s all about. … If I had to pick a trait to be great at, it’s what you can get your players to do.”
That selfishness and unrelenting willingness to advocate for everyone around him has brought him from coaching a high school team while still enrolled in college to where he is now, serving as the co-offensive coordinator for one of the most storied programs in the nation. Throughout his 20 years of coaching, it’s never been about him.
***
Casula can talk about his current and former players for hours, but with a matchup against Washington in the coming days, he has to get to his next meeting. Before he leaves, Casula stands up from his chair and, with a smile and complete sincerity, asks a question of his own.
“So, who’s this story about?”
