What happened to Colston Loveland? Exploring Michigan TE's injury

The Michigan Wolverines offense was dealt a huge blow when tight end Colston Loveland left the Sept. 14 game against Arkansas State with a shoulder injury. The Wolverines defeated the Red Wolves 28-18 but their already struggling passing attack faced another setback.

Flash forward to Week 4 and Colston Loveland was ruled out of the game vs. USC.

What happened to Colston Loveland?

Michigan's leading receiver caught a pass across the middle from Davis Warren and was tackled as he turned upfield. Loveland landed on his shoulder and immediately jogged off the field and favored his shoulder.

On Sept 18, Michigan TE coach Steve Casula gave a vague injury update where he mentioned that Loveland had practiced, but would not go into further detail:

"Everybody that's in our program that's not dealing with a season-ending injury or an upper-body, head injury of some sort, practice every day. So that can look a lot of different ways for a lot of different players.

"We're not in the business of prognosticating or predicting the availability of players. Relative to their health, we kind of just take it one minute at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time."

Casula then went into detail about Loveland's abilities, calling him a "pleasure to coach" and noting that he was his own "biggest critic."

Loveland missed Michigan’s highly-anticipated Week 4 matchup versus the USC Trojans, which presented a key loss for the Wolverines’ receiving core. The All-American tight end is Michigan’s leading receiver with 19 receptions for 187 yards and one touchdown through three games this season.

A long-term injury to Colston Loveland would be a significant loss for the Wolverines. Loveland is Michigan's top receiver through Week 3 in a passing offense that has had a tough time finding its footing early in the season.

Despite the loss of their star tight end, Michigan mustered a 27-24 win over No. 11 USC on Saturday but certainly felt the loss of their leading receiver. The Wolverines passed the ball just 12 times and completed seven passes for 32 yards for the entire game.