Four games and a bye week in and the No. 20 Michigan football team is officially one-third of the way through its season. In the eyes of most people, that means there’s still ample time for the team to further gel, for the players to fine-tune various aspects of their game and for the Wolverines to ensure they’re eventually playing at the elite level they strive for.
But co-offensive coordinator Steve Casula is not most people. According to him, the time is now.
“From top to bottom, I think this is as good of a tight end room we’ve had here in some years,” Casula said Wednesday. “The time for us to go play at an extremely high level is now, and what does that look like? It’s no bad plays, and it’s making the exceptional ones. You’re not going to make every extraordinary play. You’re not. You’re going to strive to, but we got to make more of those, and we got to kind of limit our ties and losses, because I think we’re capable of it.”
Like Casula said, playing at a high level doesn’t necessarily mean that every play or performance needs to be extraordinary — just some of them.
When thinking about preeminent playmakers in the tight end room, senior Marlin Klein comes to the forefront. Against New Mexico in Week 1, Klein put forth an impressive performance with six receptions for 93 yards, one of which was a 15-yard catch in the endzone for his first career touchdown. As the No. 1 tight end, Klein’s performance against the Lobos seemed to bode well for his role in offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey’s revamped offense. But the very next week, Klein sustained a lower-body injury and was unable to play against Oklahoma.
Such injuries are a part of the reason why Michigan’s tight end room has struggled to generate serious momentum thus far in the season. While the Wolverines’ second-string tight end still fluctuates between players, sophomore Hogan Hansen has emerged as the most likely candidate for the second spot. Hansen played against the Sooners and Central Michigan, but he was absent against Nebraska due to an undisclosed injury.
It’s uncertain whether or not both Klein and Hansen will take the field together during the Wolverines’ matchup against Wisconsin this weekend. The duo’s playstyle has yet to be seen, but it is an exciting prospect for Casula.
“When they have been out there together, it’s pretty good,” Casula said. “They can do all the things that we would ask a tight end to do. Each one of them. Skill set is a little bit different from one another, but I think it puts a lot of stress on a defense when they’re in there together … there’s two of them out there that kind of constrict and control what a defense is able to do.”
Only those in Schembechler Hall have seen the duo together on the field, but their performance together could transform Michigan’s tight end room into a room that makes those extraordinary plays — plays that will prove fruitful against conference opponents. And with the depth at the position combined with returns from injury, the Wolverines couldn’t find a better time than right now to put all the pieces together.
