On Tuesday, two days before the Bears would draft him and change his life forever, Colston Loveland helped brand cattle back home in Gooding, Idaho. He was careful to take any unnecessary risks with a shoulder that’s three months removed from surgery.
It wasn’t as much work as it was when he was a kid, branding 800 or so head of calves at his uncle’s house down the road from his own. Every April, he and his brothers would get a few days off of school to work. Loveland would grab the head, someone else would grab the hind legs, and the calf would end up branded, vaccinated and with a clipped ear.
Long before he starred as a tight end at Michigan, Loveland was put to work in his small town about 45 minutes from where Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon. Gooding, where he went to high school, has about 3,800 residents. Loveland grew up on a farm down the road in Bliss, which boasts fewer than 300 people.
When the winter wind was coming, he’d lay wire fences on the ground to keep them from breaking up. In the spring, he’d build them back up again.
His hands are sure, but they’re rugged.
“If you’ve ever played with barbed wire, it’s tough,” Loveland said Friday. “It will rip you up for sure.”
When he was scouting Loveland, Bears general manager Ryan Poles asked how his hands — which span 10 inches from the tip of his pinkie to the end of his thumb — were so strong.
“He was like, ‘Have you ever put up wire fence in Idaho before?’ …” Poles said. “He’s been doing some labor that kind of makes him who he is.”
He never really had a choice.
“When you’re on a horse and the wind’s blowing 50 mph and the snow’s coming in the same direction and there’s cows that have to be herded, de-horned and [neutered], that has to be done no matter what the weather is,” said Cam Andersen, who was his head coach at Gooding High School. “It just builds it in you. If that’s what has to get done, it gets done.
“That’s what you have to do when you grow up around here.”
‘This is nuts’
Andersen has known Loveland all his life. He played high school basketball against his dad, who went on to work for the power company, and coached Loveland’s older brother when he was a kid. He saw Loveland in pads for the first time in Grade 5. He was playing against sixth-graders and was so big he was banned from carrying the ball.
It was in fifth grade that Loveland decided to turn his focus away from junior rodeo, where he rode calves and steers. His mom asked if he wanted to find his own horse, trailer and saddle — or stick to bat-and-ball sports.
Loveland was a natural on the football field. By junior high, Andersen figured he was bound to be a college football player. It a matter of how good he wanted to be — and his work ethic was never a problem.
He was named Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year as a senior football star and was a standout in basketball. He threw the shot and the discus.
Legend has it that former Michigan assistant coach Jay Harbaugh found Loveland when he Googled the top 50 prep tight ends and was intrigued by a player from the state that produces relatively few prospects.
Michigan tight ends coach Steve Casula was an analyst for the team when the coaching staff first watched Loveland’s high school film. He saved his notes, amazed by the circumstances in which he’d bloomed.
“This is amazing — there are pickup trucks on the sideline,” he wrote.
The next line: “This guy is the punt returner for his high school team. This is nuts.’”
When Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh visited Gooding, he stayed at the home of Loveland’s grandparents. He met him for a 7 a.m. workout wearing his trademark khakis. He and Loveland did squats together.
Loveland was sold, and committed to the Wolverines.
Following his route
Loveland was wide open for his first college touchdown, streaking free against rival Ohio State on a scissors route in 2022. In front of a hostile crowd at “The Horseshoe,” the freshman celebrated the score by holding one finger to his lips.
“Not only did he leave the defender in the dust, but shushing the crowd right after,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. “I thought that was an epic moment for a freshman to catch that and not even blink. Shush the crowd — and celebrate with his teammates.”
His second career touchdown came in the Big Ten championship that year. He saved his best performances for the biggest games — when Michigan won the national championship game at the end of the 2023 season, he was their leading receiver.
Loveland’s always been a solid route-runner — he grew up as a receiver — but improved even more last year. He watched film of Texans receiver Nico Collins and tight ends Sam LaPorta — who played for new coach Ben Johnson in Detroit — and Evan Engram. His ability to separate from a defender at the top of his route reminded Bears senior player personnel director Jeff King of two-time Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap.
He’ll only get better. He’s 21 years and two-and-a-half weeks old — almost two years younger than the draft’s other top tight end, Penn State’s Tyler Warren.
“He’s the best route-runner and pass-catcher I’ve ever been around at receiver or tight end,” Casula said. “He’s such a fluid mover and has such great contact balance when he does get collided with, and on contested catches. He wastes no movement.”
‘Idaho tough’
Moore hasn’t spent a lot of time in Gooding.
“There’s not much going on,” he said. “But I know that there’s one of the best players to come to Michigan from there.”
Casula, the tight end coach, went back to Gooding to watch the draft with Loveland. He found his friends and family members just as outgoing as the player — and just as proud of him.
“The reason it’s so proud for that town,” Andersen said, “is that he is not a transplant, he was not a move-in.”
He is, to quote Poles, “Idaho tough.”
“All everyone does there is work,” Loveland said. “Seeing how my parents grew up, they just worked their butts off. …
“Growing up that way, it’s just different. I wouldn’t say a lot of people are built for it. But it’s a blessing being from there. I learned a lot of lessons, and it’s going to take me a long way.”
