Michigan football stock watch: Special teams ace Caden Kolesar on the rise

Free Press sports writer Michael Cohen breaks down Michigan football’s 59-0 win over UConn and looks at players who helped or hurt their stock Saturday at Michigan Stadium:

Stock up

WR/PR A.J. Henning: With one breathtaking display of athleticism, Henning demonstrated why special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh can tolerate the questionable decision-making he’s flashed at times the last two seasons. Henning broke the game open with a 61-yard punt return touchdown in which he broke two tackles before racing down the left sideline and juking the last defender en route to the end zone.

Henning was also featured in Michigan’s offensive game plan, which has rarely been the case over the last two years. His four receptions for 37 yards established new career highs. Nearly 76% of his receiving yards came from runs after the catch.

“Great to see,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Joins an elite list that has had a kickoff return for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown (in his career). Just cool stuff.”

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S Caden Kolesar: No player embodies Michigan’s commitment to special teams like Kolesar, a defensive back by trade but someone who makes his money in the game’s third phase. Kolesar logged 14 more snaps than anyone else on special teams through the first two weeks and recorded 66% of the unit’s tackles. He featured even more prominently in the win over UConn with a beautiful blocked punt off the left side of the formation. Kolesar broke free from a handful of Michigan defenders overloading the Huskies’ protection and lunged toward punter George Caratan to snuff the kick. The ball, which caromed off Kolesar’s midsection, was recovered by linebacker Kalel Mullings and returned 22 yards to the UConn 18. The Wolverines reached the end zone three plays later on a 1-yard rush by tailback Blake Corum.

“It looked like he just really ran around the edge, got into the wedge there,” Jim Harbaugh said. “Knowing Caden, (he) took the perfect amount of steps, took the exact right angle and just skinnied around (the protection). There was only two blockers there for three guys, and Caden was the free guy.”

WR Ronnie Bell: If the first three games offer any indication of how Ronnie Bell 2.0 will be deployed, then it appears he’s reinvented himself following the torn ACL last season. In the first three years of Bell’s career, his average yards per catch measured 18.1 in 2018, then 15.8 in 2019, then 15.4 in 2020. Those number have fallen quite steeply to 12.9 yards per catch in 2022 with Bell resembling more of a possession receiver than a downfield threat. He caught seven passes for 96 yards against Connecticut on a steady diet of crossing routes, slants, comebacks and outs. The performance was much steadier than what he showed in the win over Hawaii when he dropped pass and fumbled to offset his touchdown reception. It appears the coaching staff has created three distinct roles for its top three receivers: Bell is handling most of the intermediate routes, Cornelius Johnson is the primary vertical threat and Roman Wilson is the player benefitting from quick screens and reverses because of how well he runs after the catch. The good news for Michigan is that the connection between Bell and quarterback J.J. McCarthy seems to have developed quickly despite never playing together prior to this season.

Stock down

Coach Jim Harbaugh: For months, Harbaugh has stuck to his guns about how fortunate the Wolverines are to have two quarterbacks capable of leading them to a championship in McCarthy and Cade McNamara. He assured reporters time and again that having both on the roster should only be viewed as a positive for Michigan football because it’s a luxury most programs don’t enjoy. So why did Harbaugh risk something so valuable by having one of his quarterbacks execute the two-minute offense with 24 seconds left in the first half and a 38-point lead over Connecticut? For reasons unknown, Harbaugh sent McNamara onto the field for passing plays on first and second down — one of which resulted in a sack and the other caused a leg injury that will sideline McNamara for several weeks, if not more. The argument that Harbaugh was practicing situational football by having his quarterback run the two-minute offense doesn’t hold water considering how many times McNamara has been in those situations before. It’s McCarthy who lacks experience in end-of-half or end-of-game situations and should have been the logical choice to orchestrate that drive if Harbaugh was hellbent on playing out the final few seconds. One of the reasons U-M inserted McCarthy as often as possible in lopsided games last season was to develop a reliable backup from an inexperienced freshman. Now the Wolverines will navigate the next few weeks with either Davis Warren or Texas Tech transfer Alan Bowman as McCarthy’s understudy — two players who have combined for 47 snaps in their Michigan careers. It bears repeating: Why did Harbaugh risk one of his most valuable assets in a meaningless situation when one kneel down would have run out the clock?

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C Olu Oluwatimi: Early reviews from his new Michigan teammates described Oluwatimi as physically strong in the trenches but with enough athleticism to reach the second level or block in the open field. Oluwatimi reinforced those opinions in the first two games by anchoring the offensive line and flashing the kind of agility needed to pull as a lead blocker for U-M’s tailbacks. But his sheen dulled with a subpar effort against the Huskies in which Oluwatimi posted his lowest pass-blocking and run-blocking grades of the season, according to Pro Football Focus — marks that were lower than all but two of his pass-blocking performances and all but one of his run-blocking efforts at Virginia last season. Oluwatimi missed his target on the same kind of pull that sprung big gains against Colorado State and Hawaii when he got lost in traffic at the line of scrimmage in the second quarter. The result was a 2-yard loss for tailback CJ Stokes. Oluwatimi was also involved with the mishandled twist that led to McNamara’s injury. Passing off stunts and twists was the offensive line’s biggest weakness last season and something coaches drilled repeatedly in both spring practice and fall camp. But against Connecticut there was confusion among Oluwatimi, right tackle Zak Zinter and right tackle Trente Jones in which three linemen caught blocking two defenders with nobody accounting for defensive end Eric Watts. As Oluwatimi and Zinter blocked the same player, Watts looped from outside to inside and raced past the U-M center to combine with teammate Pryce Yates for a hit that injured McNamara.

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OLB Taylor Upshaw

There were times during the offseason when Upshaw was labeled a potential breakout candidate for Michigan following the departures of edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo. Everyone knew Mike Morris would command one of those spots after playing the No. 3 role last season, and some believed Upshaw would claim the other. Instead, Upshaw is one of the biggest disappointments for defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s unit and he appears to be sliding down the depth chart.

Upshaw’s snap counts have diminished from 23 to 14 to 11 in the last three weeks as he’s failed to make an impact off the edge. His three tackles and two quarterback pressures this season are bettered by 20 teammates and seven teammates, respectively, through the first three games. Of particular concern for Upshaw are the increasing roles for true freshman Derrick Moore and high-profile transfer Eyabi Okie. Moore has already logged more total snaps than Upshaw and offers greater positional flexibility as both an edge defender and an interior pass rusher in sub packages. Okie’s snap counts have risen to double figures each of the last two games after joining the team in mid-August. Established veterans Morris, Jaylen Harrell and McGregor represent 75% of the two-deep depth chart for U-M’s edge rushers. Upshaw’s grasp on the fourth spot might be slipping.

Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ronnie Bell 2.0 becoming a possession WR for Michigan football