GOODING, Idaho — Colston Loveland, American cowboy. Cattleman. Bulldogger. Buckaroo.
No sooner did Loveland arrive on the scene in April as the Bears’ first-round pick, at No. 10 overall, than a picture was painted of the 6-6, 241-pound, national-title-winning Michigan tight end as a quintessential wrangler lassoed from the pages of a Larry McMurtry novel. Newt Dobbs, meet Snake Cole.
The picture wasn’t exactly inaccurate, especially from the point of view of a place like Chicago, which has as much to do with alligator wrestling and reef surfing as it does with cattle farming and ranching.