Grant Newsome Explains AJ Barner's Usage And What He Brings To The Strong TE Room

The tight end position isn't flashy in today's day and age of college football. But Michigan has two or three that can make a big difference in any given football game.

Michigan's unquestionable top two tight ends entering the 2022 season were Erik All and Luke Schoonmaker. But All barely played last season due to a back injury, which elevated then-freshman Colston Loveland into a prominent role. All decided to enter the transfer portal himself and went to Iowa, while Schoonmaker became an NFL draft pick to the Dallas Cowboys. 

Fast forward to 2023, Michigan went out and got Indiana transfer AJ Barner from the transfer portal to help out Loveland in the tight end room. The '23 season just may be Loveland's breakout year and between Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore talking with the media -- Loveland has the potential to become the best tight end in the nation. 

But so far, Barner has surpassed Loveland's snap count in two games. In fact, Barner has played the eighth-most snaps on the offense in two weeks with 71 snaps being played. Loveland, No. 11 on the offense, has played 57 snaps. 

When you look at the stats, Loveland has caught six receptions compared to Barner's one reception in 2023. 

Tight end coach Grant Newsome believes Michigan has three starting-caliber tight ends on the roster. It's all about the game flow as to who receives more snaps in the game. Max Bredeson has turned into not only a tight end, but he's been playing a fullback role as well. Loveland is your catching threat, and Barner can catch the ball, but he is also a good blocker.

The former Hoosiers' tight end is the top Michigan run-blocking player on the entire team according to PFF who received an 80.8 grade through two weeks. Which can explain a lot as to why Barner is on the field so much. 

"Just the flow of the game, just the flow of the game," Newsome said. "I see it as we have three starting tight ends. The first game, Max was the quote-unquote starter just because we were backed up and he was the personnel on that play. I'm very fortunate that none of those guys in the room are selfish, it's not about, 'hey, why did he play 34 snaps and why did I play 31'? They all care about winning and being great as a team. It's just kind of how the game flowed."

"Another luxury we have -- is really having more than three starting tight ends and more than that, guys who can help us win games. One thing I wanted to focus on is to not play those guys 70 plays a game like I did something last year, it's something I didn't do very well. I overloaded Schoonie [Luke Schoonmaker] a little bit and it caught up to him towards the end of the season. It's been a focus distributing those snaps and to make sure we keep those guys healthy the entire year."

What makes Barner such a big-time steal out of the portal? Newsome credits his maturity, and of course, his on-the-field ability. It also made the process of getting Barner easier since former Indiana coach Mike Hart knew him from their time in Bloomington. 

"It's always a gamble," said Newsome on using the portal. "Obviously, having Coach [Mike] Hart here and he had that relationship with him when he was in Indiana was a huge factor for us. You have that kind of built-in level of trust and experience from Mike's time with him. We kind of knew what we were getting. I think the biggest thing he's brought outside of his on-field abilities, which you're starting to see, is just maturity. I think Coach Harbaugh has done a great job across the program bringing in older transfers who are kind of about their business, very veteran guys. There's no young guy immaturity that sometimes shows up, even with the best of kids. He's really all about ball. It's awesome."

In today's day and age of college football, the tight end position isn't flashy, nor is it used very often in some programs. But Michigan truly has an embarrassment of riches at a ton of positions on this team, and tight end is right up there.