Amid unexpected freshman-year impact, Hogan Hansen drawing on past experience and present role models 

No one really expected Hogan Hansen to contribute to the Michigan football team this season. 

That’s not because Hansen lacks talent, nor is it because the Wolverines don’t get the tight ends involved. Hansen was a four-star recruit and the fourth-ranked recruit in the state of Washington out of high school. Michigan, meanwhile, loves its tight ends so much that they currently outpace the Wolverines’ wide receivers in receiving yards this season.

But as talented as Hansen is, and as much as Michigan loves to get its tight ends involved in the offense, he’s still a true freshman playing at a position that usually takes some time to adjust to the college level. Add in junior tight ends Colston Loveland and Marlin Klein ahead of Hansen, and it didn’t look like there was much of a path to meaningful playing time for Hansen during his freshman season. 

Even Hansen didn’t expect to get involved so quickly. But leaning on his past experiences as well as Loveland and Klein as role models, Hansen has already played a key role in multiple games for the Wolverines. 

“It’s definitely a little surprising,” Hansen said Tuesday of his early impact. “I’m just trying to stay ready up to this point, because you never know how things can change like that.”  

While Hansen may not have expected to get involved so early, he does have a leg up on other freshman tight ends across the country in adjusting to the next level. Most top tight end recruits line up outside a lot in high school, relied on to create matchup nightmares in the passing game. That leaves them less involved in blocking schemes, something that — particularly at Michigan — is heavily emphasized for tight ends in college. 

That wasn’t the case for Hansen, though. During his days at Bellevue High School, Hansen often played as an inline blocker rather than a receiver out wide, closer to the role that the Wolverines often put their tight ends in. So when it came time to learn how to block at the next level, Hansen had prior experience to draw on.

“I think my high school, Bellevue High School, helped me prepare a lot (for college) just with the physical edge,” Hansen said. “I was always blocking in the trenches. … I never played offensive line, but at my high school, (tight end) could pretty much be an extra offensive tackle, if you look at it that way.”

Using that experience as an “extra offensive tackle,” Hansen had an immediate pathway to more reps in practice. The Wolverines rely heavily on all of their tight ends to block in order to establish the run, so Hansen’s ability to not only avoid being a liability in that regard, but also to be an asset right away, meant he could see the field more often. 

“It’s like the old adage,” Michigan tight ends coach Steve Casula said Sept. 18. “The more you can do, the longer they have to keep you around, the more opportunities you get.”

Even as he first entered college, Hansen could already do more than a lot of other tight ends. Loveland has highlighted Hansen’s athleticism and his ability to catch the ball well, but also mentioned his blocking specifically.

Despite the increased opportunities, Hansen still had plenty to learn in order to fully take advantage of them. Lucky for him, the Wolverines had multiple older, very talented tight ends in Loveland and Klein, who had their own experience to pass along.

“They’ve just been super good role models,” Hansen said. “Every time I got a question on the field after practice, when we’re watching film, they’ll give me tips. It’s just really trying to help me.”

Similar to Hansen, Klein is getting his first real opportunity on offense this season, but he has two more years of practice to pass lessons down from. Loveland, meanwhile, has been in Hansen’s shoes as a true freshman tight end earning playing time. In fact, Loveland was the first freshman tight end in five years to find paydirt for Michigan. 

So between Loveland and Klein, Hansen has plenty of knowledge to absorb from those above him. Adding that to his own existing experience from high school, he had a lot of information about good tight end play to draw off of as he adjusted to the college game. 

And then, early in fall camp, all that information clicked for Hansen. 

“Hogan is a guy that, maybe a week into fall camp, it just somehow, some way clicked for him,” Casula said. “And it was like, honestly, watching a different guy. Don’t misunderstand me, from the day he’s been here you saw what could be the talent. He just had that — I don’t know, I’ve tried to pull it out of him, what was that ‘aha’ moment where he just started doing everything fast and confident.”

Following that “aha moment,” Hansen took a big step forward in his game, earning his place as the third option at tight end for the Wolverines. That’s likely as far as he’ll get this season, because while Loveland and Klein’s talent and experience have helped Hansen cultivate his own talent, it also solidifies them as Michigan’s starter and first backup, respectively. 

But when Loveland left the Wolverines’ game against Arkansas State due to injury, Hansen got to show off the product of his own experience and what he had learned from the experience of others. He took the first catch of his career 9 yards and into the end zone, joining Loveland in hallowed company as a freshman tight end who scored a touchdown for Michigan. 

After that, Hansen’s opportunities were sparse for a few weeks with both Loveland and Klein healthy. But when Klein went down against No. 20 Illinois last Saturday, Hansen got a chance once again. 

He took the opportunity and ran with it, recording four catches for 50 yards, both single-game career highs. Hansen didn’t find the end zone this time, but he made a continuous impact and helped the Wolverines as they attempted to claw their way back into the game. 

Prior to the season, Hansen probably wouldn’t have expected to have that big of a role in any game this season, let alone a ranked road matchup in which Michigan was trailing. But after playing in a similar offense in high school and learning from similarly talented players in college, Hansen has developed the necessary experience to make his impact.

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