Michigan
Colston Loveland injury update, other Michigan offensive notes
ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines had just about everything go well this week in a 50-6 win over the Northwestern Wildcats, but the first-half injury to junior tight end Colston Loveland looms large heading into next week’s game against Ohio State.
Loveland appeared to injure his shoulder on his touchdown catch at the end of the first half, which extended its lead over Northwestern to 17-6 heading into the locker room. The Michigan radio broadcast said at halftime he did not come out of the locker room and would not play the rest of the game.
Head coach Sherrone Moore briefly touched on the injury after the win, deferring to his medical staff.
“Yeah, just working through something,” Moore said. “We’ll see what they say when we go see the doctors.”
Loveland is considered a potential NFL Draft pick next spring and is one of the best tight ends in college football. Saturday was the first time this season that Loveland did not lead the team in receiving in a game he played in. He missed the Week 4 win over USC with a shoulder ailment.
“He’s unbelievable,” Moore said. “You talk about a guy that just works from Gooding, Idaho. Very unknown. He’s come in here and been a name in college football that everybody knows. He’s just outstanding in every way. It’s a blessing to be around. It’s a pleasure to be around in every way. I’m just glad we got him.”
He finished the day with 3 catches for 22 yards and the score right before the half, setting a new single-season record for receptions by a Michigan tight end with 56 catches for 588 yards and five touchdowns, supplanting Bennie Joppru’s 53 catches in 2002. Loveland is also second all-time in career tight end touchdowns at U-M with 11, tied with Jake Butt.
Michigan’s run game finds itself in the second half
Coming into this game, Michigan’s run game had tapered off in a big way over the last several weeks, and the first half was more of the same. The Wolverines had 12 carries for 14 yards in the first half, and then busted out in a big way out of the locker room.
Michigan pounded the Wildcats on the ground on a 5-play, 75-yard drive – all runs – to take a commanding 24-6 lead. Graduate running back Kalel Mullings had 4 of those carries for 73 yards and the touchdown. It woke up everyone, running 23 times for 187 yards and 8.1 yards per carry in the final two quarters.
Mullings finished the day with 12 carries for 92 yards and 3 scores, while senior Donovan Edwards chipped in with 10 carries for 52 yards and a 20-yard touchdown run. Even senior Tavierre Dunlap found his way into the endzone for a 20-yard scamper in the fourth quarter.
Michigan adjusted, and it paid off.
“I thought we did a good job formationally adjusting and helping the box fronts,” Moore said after the game. “Sometimes you get a lot of people in the box and it’s hard to run. Some formations dictate that they can. Some formations dictate that they can’t. I also thought the guys just moved their guys more. And we did a really good job fundamentally playing with lower hats, better hands. And Kalel obviously got it going really early with a huge run. So I think that momentum was great.
Mullings had struggled in recent weeks due in part to inconsistent usage and poor run blocking up front. His bread and butter this season had been breaking tackles and making people miss. Saturday afternoon was a return to form.
“The biggest thing for us was, you have to make the safeties miss, as backs,” Mullings said. “In the first half we had a couple of big opportunities, but the safeties were able to get us down. We knew, early in the play, get our eyes on the safety. These guys were coming down pretty fast, pretty hard, and we had to have a move ready, have a move in your head to make that safety miss and get to the end zone.
“It felt amazing. It’s my last game in The Big House. Me and Dono were talking about it. Both of our last plays were touchdowns. There’s nothing more you could ask for. It felt amazing to help the team win, help get the run game going, and be able to make plays. It feels like bliss, honestly.”
Davis Warren on first half ending drive, relationship with Jared Goff
Senior quarterback Davis Warren made his 7th start of the season – and 4th in a row – in Saturday’s win, finishing the game 26-for-35 for 195 yards with a touchdown and interception. It was far from a flawless performance, and one of the highlights of his season thus far came on an 11-play, 65-yard drive at the end of the first half that ended in a three-yard score to Loveland.
“It was awesome. It was great to see,” Warren said after the game. “It was great for our defense to get a stop, hold, and then for our offense to go down and score. So it was a huge part and great momentum shifting into the second half.”
Between the first half drive to close things out and the Mullings drive to start the second half, U-M won the “middle eight” and put its foot on the gas the rest of the way, something that had eluded them all year.
“It was huge, just setting the tempo going into halftime,” Warren said. “We talk about that middle eight all the time. We want to win that middle eight. Being able to do that was huge. The receivers did a great job, and Dono was a great option in the pass game. If they’re keying Colston, or whoever, I can dump it down to him and he can make a play. I’m just proud of the way we executed in that drive and it really gave us some momentum going into the half, to really take it to them.”
In recent weeks, it came out that Warren had developed a relationship with Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, another California guy who made his way to the state of Michigan. The two have bonded over their journeys and become friends dating back to when Warren was a prep star working through cancer treatments in high school.
“He texted me last week, after the Texans game,” Warren said. “Then they beat the Jaguars by 50, that next week. Maybe he should text me every week. That might help him out a little bit.
“That relationship is huge for me. He was there for me when I needed someone when I was going through my treatment, and that relationship just grew. Working with the same trainers, and we both go from Southern California to the Detroit area. It’s been so cool seeing him and watching him. When I was thrown back into the lineup, it was watching a lot of his throws, checking down to the running back, and him talking about it, how you’ve got to be a point guard.”
Warren and Goff now have dueling 50-point performances between the two of them. Nobody is expecting that to happen next week against Ohio State, but Moore knows it can serve as a springboard.
“Yeah, great momentum,” Moore said. “Great momentum, but we all know what that game means. It’s a reset. It doesn’t really matter what your record is. It doesn’t really matter what you’ve done before. That game’s different. So we’ve got to go prepare.”
Miscellaneous offensive notes
• Freshmen Jadyn Davis (QB) and Micah Ka’apana (RB) made their Michigan debuts on Saturday.
• The offense had a season-high 25 total first downs.
• Mullings’ 47-yard run in the third quarter was the third longest of his career (53 and 63 yards, both this season).
• His three-touchdown game was the first for U-M since Blake Corum’s game against Purdue last season.
• Michigan threw the ball 24 times in the first half and 35 on the night. Coming into this game, the Wolverines had attempted 24.2 passes per game.
• Junior WR Tyler Morris led the team with a career-high 7 catches for 64 yards on Saturday.
• Edwards had four catches on Saturday, moving into third-place all-time for receptions for a U-M running back with 84 career catches, passing B.J. Askew (83, 1999-02).
• Freshman running back Jordan Marshall received his first carries of the season, finishing with 7 for 17 yards. He also had a 63-yard kick return.
A group of residents on Holland Road in Taylor, Michigan, say they are now doing everything they can to keep their neighborhood the way it is after some of them received a letter saying the city is considering rezoning their neighborhood.
“People across the street from me could have warehouse front property instead of woods and nice residential homes,” said Matthew Streicher.
Streicher, whose family has owned property on Holland Road for more than 100 years, says that has been his concern after he received a letter from the city about a proposed rezoning from residential to light industrial directly behind his home near Wick and Holland roads.
“So that’s when I also decided to start knocking on doors around here and saying this is what is going on, we need to speak out and have a voice as to what happens in our backyards, literally,” said Streicher.
Streicher told CBS News Detroit that three of his neighbors received that letter, informing residents that there’s a possibility of a new cold storage warehouse development if this land is rezoned.
“Nothing that belongs in a neighborhood,” said Tim Adkins.
“Heartbreaking, heartbreaking, you know,” said Denise Haggadone.
Many who live on Holland Road say this possibility is even more disturbing because of how long everyone has lived on this quaint road. And these same homeowners say that an industrial facility would only bring in more traffic and take away natural green space, most likely hurting their property value as well.
“It’s nice to see the wildlife, you know, there’s so few places left,” said Adkins.
On Tuesday, CBS News Detroit spoke off-camera with City Council Chairman Charley Johnson, who also lives on Holland Road. Johnson says he understands all of his neighbors’ concerns and agrees with them.
He says the company proposing this rezoning has every right to do so, and that the planning commission will vote on it Wednesday evening.
“It’s sad, I raised my kid here, and he’s planning on having this home after I pass or retire or what have you,” Haggadone said,
The residents hope to see a big turnout at Wednesday’s planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at Taylor City Hall.
The Sterling Heights City Council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday evening opposing tax policy bills in Lansing that one councilmember contends put every municipality “at risk.”
The Michigan House voted in May to pass several bills that would slash property taxes across the state, but skipped a vote on a bill needed to replace some of the more than $5 billion in lost tax revenue.
At its Tuesday evening meeting, Sterling Heights City Council is slated to consider the adoption of a resolution opposing Michigan House Bills 5872 through 5879 due to “their potential negative impact on local government revenue, financial planning, and administrative operations,” a city document said. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the city would lose about $5 million in annual revenue from the bills. He said there’s no “guaranteed replacement” for the lost revenue, and the city would need to cut services, he said.
“So we’re deeply concerned about that,” he said.
The House’s sweeping tax cuts can’t be implemented without the passage of a separate bill levying a loosely defined 6% sales tax on services that has yet to be revealed. Republicans who control the House did not hold a vote on the sales tax hike bill, which remains in committee.
All combined, the four property tax cuts passed by the House are estimated to result in a tax revenue loss that could progress from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion a year, according to a series of nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analyses.
Vanderpool, the Sterling Heights city manager, said he wants the state Legislature to work “hand in hand” with cities, townships and villages to come up with a solution for “guaranteed revenue replacement.”
“We are more than willing ― I think our reputation precedes us ― to work with our state legislators hand in hand to come up with viable solutions that … may reform property taxes without harming communities across the state,” he said.
Sterling Heights Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko said the legislation reduces the city’s revenue without a guarantee of what it will be replaced with. She said that in the future, the legislation could prevent the city from maintaining positions that it has promised residents it would maintain, including public safety roles.
“When they put the burden on our local government, they’re actually putting it on the residents of whatever community it is,” she said.
State Rep. Steve Frisbie, a Calhoun County Republican, previously said that Michigan residents need to see tax relief immediately. He noted a ballot proposal collecting signatures last year would have eliminated all property taxes in the state. That citizens’ initiative, known as AxMiTax, fizzled out and won’t be on the ballot this fall.
“They realized that our property taxes are too high and they demand that we take action now,” Frisbie said.
More on the bills
The cuts passed by the House in May would eliminate the 6-mill State Education Tax and eliminate the 0.75% real estate transfer tax assessed on the sale price of real estate.
House Republicans also signed off on eliminating the personal property tax. That bill, largely intended to benefit utility companies, is tied to separate legislation that requires utilities such as Consumers Energy and DTE Energy to pass on personal property tax savings by cutting electric and gas rates for their residential customers. It also requires utilities to freeze rates for two years.
Jennifer Varney, Sterling Heights’ finance and budget director, said the elimination of the personal property tax would result in a $4.3 million annual revenue loss for the city. She said the personal property tax refers to the taxes that businesses pay on their assets, such as their machines and vehicles.
Another tax on the chopping block is the so-called “pop-up tax,” an increase in a property tax bill that occurs when a house transfers from one owner to the next in Michigan, uncapping a constitutional limit on the property tax increase on a home’s taxable value.
Under the state Constitution, a property’s taxable value cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation or 5% each year. But when a property is sold, that cap lifts and is reset at a new, often higher taxable value, resulting in a “pop-up” in property taxes.
Varney said the “pop-up” is the only way cities “recapture” the true value of a home. Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to roll back millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
“If you take away the pop-up … and you keep the rollback of the millage, you’re basically limiting any kind of growth in taxable base for municipalities,” she said.
Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
Search for missing Michigan woman Lynette Hooker reopened
The search for missing Lynette Hooker has been reopened. Hooker, who is from Michigan, was with her husband in the Bahamas when he claims she fell off a boat. However, new location data from his cell phone contradicts the story he gave authorities.
(FOX 2) – The search for a missing Michigan in the Bahamas has been reopened after authorities say her husband allegedly gave police false information.
Lynette Hooker and her husband Brian were boating in the Bahamas in early April when, according to her husband, she fell off the boat and was swept to sea. Brian told police he had to paddle to shore after Lynette fell into the water because she had the key.
Brian was taken into custody in the Bahamas after Lynette’s disappearance, but was later released and returned back to Michigan.
Recently, it was revealed that new location data from Brian’s cell phone contradicts the story he gave to authorities, and suggests he may have sent search crews to the wrong area. This new information has led to the U.S. Coast Guard reopening its search for Lynette.
The Source: Previous reporting and information from FOX News were used in this story.
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