Jim Harbaugh produces quality tight ends. Plain and simple.
Zach Gentry and Sean McKeon are already on the Jake Butt trajectory, and preseason watch lists are validating that fact.
Gentry and McKeon were two of 64 players on the watch list released Friday for the John Mackey Award, handed out annually to the nation’s most outstanding tight end.
The tight end duo combined for five touchdown catches — more than half of Michigan’s total — and more than 600 receiving yards in 2017. Both also received honorable mention All-Big Ten honors last season.
Gentry is a redshirt junior and a converted quarterback from Albuquerque, New Mexico, while McKeon is a Dudley, Massachusetts product entering his sophomore campaign.