DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys picked former Michigan tight end Luke Schoonmaker No. 58 overall in Round 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft Friday night.
The Cowboys are adding a rookie to a young tight end room that includes Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot, who are both entering their second seasons, along with Sean McKeon, who is entering his fourth year in the NFL.
Schoonmaker, who caught 54 passes for 637 yards and seven touchdowns in his 43 career games with the Wolverines from 2018-22, was teammates with McKeon. The undrafted Michigan product helped the 6-6, 250-pounder with how to get ready for the NFL combine.
"I reached out to him think about like, cleats or something like that, but then, yeah, just how everything kind of goes here and what I should be really focusing on and even building up to pro day too, being able to get in the work that I need," Schoonmaker told reporters at the NFL combine in Indianapolis in early March. "I know he is always someone that I can go to for anything really."
Mostly a blocking tight end, Schoonmaker earned a spot on the John Mackey Award watch list ahead of his final season. Schoonmaker made third-team All-Big Ten as the Wolverines finished 13-1 with a loss in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
McKeon wasn't the only tight end Schoonmaker learned from while at Michigan. The Pittsburgh Steelers' Zach Gentry and former Cowboys tight end Nick Eubanks also helped Schoonmaker with his development in Ann Arbor.
"I think they've honestly built me into the player I am today, each in their own ways," McKeon said at the combine. "Zach Gentry, Sean, Nick, just great guys that I was able to really be excited to come into that room every day and work with them and then go out onto the field with them and watch them at one point and then sometimes be on the field with them and then you know, they take off and I just become them at some point. It was so awesome to be able to have them and the guys that they are off the field too was awesome."
Schoonmaker pursued a degree in communication and media at Michigan and was enrolled in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. The Hamden, Connecticut native was a five-year letterman at Michigan.
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