INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly every school with a tight end who wins the Mackey Award or cracks the first round of the NFL Draft puts together a promotional graphic proclaiming itself as “Tight End U”. That debate spilled over to last week’s NFL combine, where four tight ends from schools with a legitimate claim — Miami (Fla.), Iowa, Notre Dame and Penn State — took the stage.
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“Getting good players there is something we’ve always done at tight end,” said Penn State’s Tyler Warren, the consensus top tight end in this year’s NFL Draft. “We’ve had a good run so far. There are some young guys in that room now that are going to be really good. I don’t think it’s going to be going anywhere with the tight end production at Penn State.”
The programs with the two strongest cases are Miami and Iowa. Over the last 25 years, drafted Miami tight ends have more seasons of NFL experience (91), yards (37,185), catches (3,315), touchdowns (292) and Pro Bowls (17) than alums from the other contenders for the title, and the Hurricanes are tied with Notre Dame for the most tight ends drafted (14). Those numbers mean something to Miami’s next NFL hopeful at the position, Elijah Arroyo.
“I like to borrow a lot of different things from a lot of different people,” Arroyo said. “My main guys are the Miami guys. Those are the main guys that I watch: Jimmy Graham, Greg Olsen, Jeremy Shockey, David Njoku, Kellen Winslow. There’s a lot of Miami greats that I was able to take after.”
Iowa, meanwhile, has lapped the field statistically in the past 10 years. The Hawkeyes’ five drafted tight ends have compiled 1,386 catches, 16,460 yards, 100 touchdowns and nine Pro Bowls. Iowa had six tight ends start NFL games last season: George Kittle, Sam LaPorta, T.J. Hockenson, Noah Fant, Erick All and 2019 undrafted free agent Parker Hesse.
“I’m very proud,” said Iowa’s Luke Lachey, who is projected as a mid-round pick. “I walked in in 2020, and to look at the wall on the back of the room and see all the great guys that have come before me, it was really cool. To have an opportunity even to be in the same room with some of those guys and now to kind of be on my way to the NFL, it’s, it’s really cool.”
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Since 2005, every full-season Notre Dame starting tight end has turned into a draft pick. Mitchell Evans is the next in line.
“I don’t really sense the pressure of that,” Evans said. “I just turn it into excitement just to continue that legacy, the heritage and given that Notre Dame title of ‘Tight End U’ and keeping it a legacy. I definitely don’t want to be the guy to break that streak.”
Penn State doesn’t have as strong of a claim to the title over the past quarter-century, but it has gained ground on the frontrunners over the last decade. The five Nittany Lions drafted have 776 catches for 8,015 yards and 56 touchdowns. Those numbers should increase once Warren’s professional career begins this fall.
Other schools with the grounds to participate in the debate didn’t have a representative prospect on hand at the combine to make their case. Stanford tight ends have combined for 868 catches, 8,759 yards, 60 touchdowns and two Pro Bowls in the last 10 years. Georgia, which has produced 12 draft picks at tight end over the past 25 years and six from 2019 onward, could enter this debate should a former Bulldog or two join Brock Bowers as a quality starter in the pros. But Warren, Lachey, Arroyo and Evans have a chance to bolster their schools resume — and spark a new round of arguments in the process.
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RB depth
Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is the top running back in this draft class, and nothing that took place in Indianapolis (including Jeanty’s decision not to work out) changed that consensus. But who’s No. 2?
It depends on what you’re looking for schematically in your offense. Based on build and running style, here are some high-ceiling comparisons for this draft’s top backs.
- Jeanty: Edgerrin James
- North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton: Ezekiel Elliott
- Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson: David Johnson
- Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson: Curtis Martin
- Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins: Josh Jacobs
- Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo: Arian Foster
- Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson: Kevin Faulk
The depth of potential stars at this position is off the charts. Along with the above seven, there are plenty of others who can develop into starters or key rotational pieces, including UCF’s R.J. Harvey, Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks, Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai and Oregon’s Jordan James.
“We have some talent, man,” Brooks said. “Especially here at the combine, talking to those guys and meeting those guys, it’s been a great opportunity.”
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I asked multiple Big Ten defenders for their thoughts on an offensive position where the conference enjoyed some considerable depth. Minnesota’s Cody Lindenberg hedged between Hampton (whose Tar Heels beat Minnesota in the season opener) and Johnson. Maryland defensive tackle Tommy Akingbesote said Johnson’s performance stuck out because “we knew he was gonna run the ball every play.”
“He’s a big guy,” Washington linebacker Carson Bruener said of Johnson. “He’s hard to bring down, and he was able to find gaps that we didn’t even think were there.”
‘The Game’ lives on
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry never truly ends, even at the combine.
The national champion Buckeyes produced 15 NFL combine invitees, and none of them mentioned the word Michigan, even when discussing the 13-10 loss to their archrivals that proved to be a season turning point. The Wolverines, which finished 8-5, sent eight players to the combine, and none were shy about discussing their upset win.
Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham could land in the top five picks, and interior batterymate Kenneth Grant also could land in the first round. When asked for their best college performances, they pointed to their 11 combined tackles in the Horseshoe last November.
“Just rolling out Ohio State film, that’s all you need to see really,” Graham said. “We knew we were the underdogs, but in our minds, we could play with any team. Obviously, we didn’t have the year, but every time we played those guys, we were going to bring our ‘A’ game.”
“Coach (Tony Esposito) lined me up in that zero, and I was eating all game, to be honest,” Grant said. “I was stopping the run pretty good. I had the opportunity to rush the passer, so I was getting back there a lot.”
The Buckeyes moved past the defeat and won the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, but the regular-season finale still resonates.
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“The Team Up North … after that loss, it really hit us deep,” Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau said. “It was like a dagger, but we had to understand, ‘Hey, we can come back, regroup and still have a chance to win the national championship.’ Or we just go in and lay an egg against Tennessee.”
“We got punched in the mouth at the end of the year, and it was a great opportunity for us to go one of two ways,” Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer said. “We chose the way that was winning the national championship.”
Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin suffered a torn Achilles tendon less than two weeks before the Michigan game. It crushed him to watch Grant and Graham dominate up front.
“The first couple of weeks were really tough on me,” McLaughlin said. “I was glad to go see us go out and beat Indiana. The next week was hard, because I feel like I could have helped in The Team Up North game. But to see them really take that next step in the playoffs … it was just incredible to be a part of that.”
Playoff letdown
The SEC sent just three teams to the inaugural 12-team CFP and had three more teams just miss the field, sparking selection committee second-guessing that continues to color discussions of future CFP format changes. Ole Miss, Alabama and South Carolina finished 9-3 in the regular season and were bypassed for the final two at-large spots by Indiana (11-1) and SMU (11-2). The players for those three teams still feel the disappointment nearly three months later.
“That’s a sick feeling,” Ole Miss defensive lineman Jared Ivey said. “Obviously, the SEC is the most competitive conference in America, and there were a lot of teams that their record didn’t really showcase what they were as a team. Or a lot of sleeper teams in Vanderbilts and Oklahomas and Floridas that are really good teams, and their records don’t say that. So when you lose to them, countrywide, it has a big impact on your playoff chances. So not being able to go and compete in that, it sucked. That was the reason a lot of us came back.”
“The SEC is a dogfight every week,” South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori said. “Looking at our schedule this year, we didn’t know how many games we were going to win, but it just shows anybody can win, anybody can lose, especially now with the NIL era.”
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Other takeaways
• Texas A&M edge defender Nic Scourton’s sack production dipped from 10 at Purdue in 2023 to five last year, but his tackles for loss remained largely the same following his transfer (15 in 2023, 14 in ’24).
“My Purdue scheme was very simple,” Scourton said. “Coach (Ryan Walters) wanted me to go and just get after the quarterback. I dropped in Cover 2. I played man sometimes. It was very simple defense. When I got to A&M, we’re in a very complex defense, I was playing both positions. And there’s a lot of different responsibilities for those, and I think Coach (Mike) Elko and that staff really helped me learn more about football and just showcase my versatility.”
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• Nebraska tight end Thomas Fidone surprised many when he chose to leave with one year of college eligibility remaining. After injuries scuttled his first two years on campus, Fidone steadily improved over his most recent two seasons and finished with 36 catches for 373 yards and no touchdowns last fall. His solid testing numbers at the NFL combine in every category should boost his draft stock.
“I know the type of player I am, I know the ability I have and what I can bring to the table, and what I’m able to do on the field when the ball goes my way,” Fidone said. “I know my best years of football are ahead of me.”
• Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke proved his toughness throughout the Hoosiers’ breakout season. But few people knew he played with a partially torn ACL he sustained in July, which caused stability issues. During the season, the ligament became completely torn.
“I was healthy enough to play, and that’s all that mattered to me,” said Rourke, who transferred from Ohio to Indiana for his final college season. “I wanted to make sure I gave it everything I had this year, especially being my last year. And if I was feeling great, I was going to play, no matter what was going on.”
(Photo of Mitchell Evans: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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