Now that we've talked about the running backs and wide receivers, we move on the best tight ends in the country heading into this upcoming season.
To make things clear once more, this is a ranking of these players at this stage of their career, not scouting reports for the NFL.
Honorable mentions: Tom Sweeney (Boston College), Matt Bushman (BYU), C.J. Conrad (Kentucky)
#1 Caleb Wilson, UCLA
As far as receiving tight-ends go, I don’t think there’s a more dynamic guy in the country than Wilson.
The Bruin pass-catcher has quicks out of his breaks, exceptional hands and the speed to gain yards after the catch.
He has the shake at the top of his routes to expose defenders in man-coverage as well as the understanding of how to find openings in-between the zones.
Texas A&M got to know that in the season-opener when Wilson was a crucial piece to UCLA’s 27-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
Wilson started by eating up the Aggies zone-coverage before leaving their best defender Amani Watts standing routinely on those stick-nod routes towards the post, leading to a ridiculous 15 catches for over 200 yards.
Unfortunately, he only played in five games, but he was the nation’s top tight-end according to Pro Football Focus, before going down with an injury.
#2 Noah Fant, Iowa
If you are looking for a premier combination of size, speed and hands, Fant is your guy. The Hawkeye tight-end gets after it in the run game and creates major movement at the point of attack.
Opposing defenses have to leave someone over the top of Fant or he will burn the next-closest defender, who trails him down the seams, and he tracks the ball over his head like a wide receiver.
He is deadly on crossing routes underneath and over the top of linebackers is a potent YAC target coming across the formation towards the flats off bootlegs.
On an offense that ran the ball ten times more than they threw it on average per game, Fant only caught 30 balls for just under 500 yards, but 11 of those went for touchdowns.
#3 Albert Okwuegbunam, Missouri
Only a freshman last year, Okwuegbunam already raised some eyebrows, catching 29 passes for 415 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The Mizzou tight-end is a speedy threat down the seams, who routinely gets a step on linebackers and splits safeties downfield.
He plays above the rim and has strong hands to hold onto the catch through contact. At 6’5”, 250 pounds he can shield defenders from the ball pretty well already. Okwuegbunam was used as a lead-blocker off skip pulls and doesn’t shy away from staying in protection and going up against opposing edge rushers.
However, at this point, the big TE leads way too much with his helmet as a blocker and fails to sustain at times, plus he wasn’t asked to run a very diverse route-tree on the Tigers’ up-tempo offense.
#4 Kaden Smith, Stanford
This guy is another big-bodied pass-catcher at 6’5”, 250 pounds. Smith wasn’t the number one tight end for the Cardinal in 2017, as Dalton Schultz was more of an all-around contributor to the offense, being heavily relied on as a blocker. Smith, on the other hand, served the role of that receiving TE, lining up detached from the line primarily and even split out wide on some snaps.
With limited snaps, he was held to 23 catches for 414 yards and two touchdowns. So it will be interesting to see how the coaches will use him this upcoming year.
Smith has shown the willingness and potential as a run-blocker on some occasions. As a route-runner, he has a good burst off the snap and creates separation out of his breaks.
Smith has the ability to go over the top of a defender and pluck the ball off his head for those tough catches, plus defenders know they have to cut him down by his feet.
#5 Hunter Bryant, Washington
Similar to Smith’s situation at Stanford, Bryant had more of a blocking tight-end in Will Dissly ahead of him on the depth chart. However, the Huskies used the four-star recruit in a multitude of ways as a freshman.
Bryant ran flat-routes from the fullback spot, went underneath the formation off bootlegs, ran slants out of the slot and even caught a slip screen off play-action as well as being the target on a wide receiver pass.
When the ball is in his hands, the young Washington TE is a load to bring down. I don’t have any exact numbers on it, but from watching his 2017 tape, it felt like he broke at least one tackle on every target he received.
Last season, he was simply a big receiver, with 22 catches for 331 yards in nine appearances, and I want to see if he can be more of a team player.