The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 27 BY JOHN BORTON T he trip from Cologne, Ger- many, to "middle of nowhere" Georgia to Ann Arbor can't merely be measured in miles. They're all distinct locales that Michigan senior tight end Marlin Klein has known and loved. One represents his birthplace, where his beloved family still resides. The sec- ond represents ultimate challenge, growth, and a hoped-for eventual return. But Klein's present venue holds his full attention right now. He's all in as a Michi- gan football captain, fighting to establish the Wolverines as a 2025 college football power, while forging his own future in his adopted sport. Klein's skills couldn't have been given a better stage than under the lights at Michigan Stadium on Aug. 30. Having labored in the massive shadow of NFL tight end Colston Loveland a year ago, Klein still sought the breakout game to announce his full arrival as a key pass-catching target for the Wolverines. In the debut of freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, Klein delivered. His career highs in catches (6) and yards (93) provided Underwood with a comfort zone. When it came time for Underwood to fire his first career touchdown pass, Klein made himself available and hauled in the 15-yarder in Michigan's 34-17 win. Some 110,648 roared their approval. Klein cared about one most of all. Melanie Klein, Marlin's mother, made the trans-Atlantic flight from Germany for the season-opener. Her presence transformed an already special evening into one that will never be forgotten. "They're now in full Michigan, Ameri- can football and U.S. swing," Klein said of his parents, who never could have imag- ined their soccer-playing son growing up to perform in arguably the greatest foot- ball battleground on earth. "They've been up here. My mom was here for the Week 1 game, actually. That was a special mo- ment for me and her, obviously, being able to put on that show while she was here. That was special. "Dad is always coming for the big games. He's coming for The Team Down South game, so he'll be here at the end of the year." Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore tipped his cap to Klein's football journey after the opener. "Marlin has just worked himself into the position that he is in now," Moore said. "He's been in a room with guys like Luke Schoonmaker, Erick All, Joel Honigford, Colston Loveland. He's been in the room with some NFL tight ends, guys that have done it at a high level. He's watched it, even including Max [Bredeson, present grad tight end]. He's watched how you're supposed to do it, and he's just gotten better and better. "I'm really proud of what he's done, especially improving his ability as a pass catcher. We knew he could block. He's still got stuff to work on in that phase … right now he's grinding on that. There's a standard level of that, that you want, but he still played well in the run game. "To watch him perform the way he did on Saturday was what we expected and how he wanted to perform." Talking about his Michigan journey to- ward becoming the recipient of Under- wood's initial TD toss barely scratches the surface. Klein fashioned a way to make it happen, even if he barely knew what was happening to him as it unfolded. SWEET SCENT OF COLOGNE Klein describes himself as a "city kid," reared in the suburbs of one of Germa- ny's largest municipalities. He's a people person from a tight, intact crew that in- cludes his father, Marco Albers, mother, two siblings and four cousins who are about his age. "We grew up together," Klein said. "We played all the sports together and were on the same soccer teams. It was great grow- ing up over there. Played soccer for four years — it's kind of what everybody does. It's what I did. "As I got older, I kind of realized I'd al- ways been somebody who wanted some- thing else, something different than anybody else. It clicked in my head that I wanted to do something else, and I found out about the game of football." The opportunity resided only a fam- ily friend away. One of Albers' buddies coached a local football team, the Cologne Crocodiles. The 14-year-old Klein stood ready to get his first exposure to American football, without the faintest clue of the whirlwind that would follow. He went to a practice, tried out, and they wanted him to stick around. "There was no looking back from there," he said. "I won two champion- ships in my two years there." The craziness loomed ready to com- mence after those two seasons. Yet an- other invitation to bigger football op- portunity swept in, eventually sweeping Klein out of his country at a still-tender age. "One of my coaches reached out in 2018 and told me he knew a guy named Bjoern Werner who played in the NFL, was from Germany, played at Florida State," Klein recalled, referencing the former NFL performer for Indianapolis and Jacksonville. "He was having a camp to help guys move to the U.S. I wasn't re- ally thinking anything of it. I showed up to the camp, which was kind of a tryout. FROM COLOGNE TO CAPTAIN Tight End Marlin Klein Comes A Long Way To Lead 2025 Wolverines