Michigan football injuries vs Ohio State: Stars Will Johnson, Colston Loveland ruled out

Posted by Admin November 30, 2024 Football

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Michigan football’s 2024 regular season finale just got even tougher.

The Wolverines (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten) will be without two projected first-round picks in the 2025 NFL’s draft — cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland — for Saturday’s rivalry contest against Ohio State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten).

Both were officially ruled out in the pregame availability report Big Ten teams are required to provide the league two hours before kickoff, along with four other players, including Ohio native and captain Rod Moore, who has missed the entire season recovering from a torn ACL in the spring.

Johnson’s absence (foot) is somewhat expected as he continues to work his way through a turf toe injury. This is the fifth full game in a row Johnson will miss. Considering Johnson also missed the Minnesota game and was forced to leave in the first half of an Oct. 19 road contest at Illinois contest six weeks ago, he will have missed more games (6¾) than he played (5¼) in his junior season in Ann Arbor.

When he was on the field, Johnson was on pace for arguably another All-American season with 14 tackles, three passes defended and two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Though he missed time, it doesn’t seem to have hurt the draft stock of the 6-foot-2, 205-pound defensive back, who last week was mocked by ESPN to the New England Patriots at No. 6 overall.

Loveland was said to be “trending in the right direction” earlier this week by head coach Sherrone Moore, however he was ultimately unable to play. The junior tight end not only leads the team in every major pass-catching statistic including receptions (56), receiving yards (582) and receiving touchdowns (5), but he is more than double the next closest player in every category.

Loveland caught a 3-yard touchdown to end the first half of what turned out to be a 50-6 U-M blowout over Northwestern last Saturday, shortly after he set the program single-season record for receptions by a tight end. The positive vibes were short lived, however, as the Gooding, Idaho native (projected by ESPN to reunite with his old coach Jim Harbaugh at No. 25 with the Los Angeles Chargers) did not return in the second half.

Loveland, a Mackey Award Finalist, caught his first career touchdown in Michigan’s 45-23 win in Columbus in 2022.

Other U-M players ruled out: wide receiver Amorion Walker, defensive back Jaden Mangham and linebacker Micah Pollard. Running back Ben Hall, who left last week’s contest vs. Northwestern after an apparent lower body injury, and offensive lineman Jeff Persi, are both listed as questionable.

The Wolverines are 19½-point underdogs vs. the Buckeyes.

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