I have said I expect a boring fall camp, because at most every position we know who the players will be. Well, you can throw that out the door with the tight ends. I have no clue how Jeff Grimes will use his tight ends and who he will favor.
Out of every position breakdown this is the hardest for me to project. I had all my chips on Deshawn Hanika and then he got injured and lost for the season. I have heard from people I trust that Grimes likes tall, more athletic type TE. And that's one reason Hanika was the odds-on favorite to win the starting job.
There were times watching Hanika I thought he was closer to a wide receiver than a tight end. When you look back at Baylor some of the trends I heard about Grimes play out. The last couple years at Baylor his TE were Drake Dabney (6-5, 248), Ben Sims (6-5, 252) and Jake Roberts (6-5, 248).
How the group looks on paper
Gone was the clear leader in Mason Fairchild. He played more snaps than all the other tight ends combined. Coming out of spring football I would say the depth chart was:
Trevor Kardell
Jared Casey
Tevita Noah
Jaden Hamm
I heard Kardell had a so-so spring and could have taken over as the clear leader, but did not. I asked Grimes about Casey and if he has coached a TE like that and Grimes baited me into clarifying what I was asking. I said "a TE that is around 6-feet tall." Grimes answered back, "oh he's six feet?" in a joking manner. I think Casey is the type of player who can work his way up the depth chart by the way he practices. He has good hands. The question will be if Grimes is really looking for a certain mold.
KU brought Noah on the team to block, but I don't know if that will fit what Grimes wants to do. I believe he wants a pass catching threat at all times on the field. All spring and summer I asked about Jaden Hamm and never got much. He could still be in the developmental stage.
The wild card in all this is Leyton Cure. He might be the best overall athlete in the group and is a converted quarterback. He was a good track athlete and he seems to fit what Grimes likes in tight ends. Grimes had one portal tight end available and he could have gone after a division one player, but he liked Cure. I told the story before, Grimes was happy with getting Cure even if his brother, Linkon, chose another school. Cure will have to learn a lot, and fast.
Carson Bruhn will get a year to develop while the upperclassmen show what they can do.
I believe the race to be on the two-deep is wide open. It might be the most interesting position battle of camp because we don't know what Grimes is looking for.
Out of every position breakdown this is the hardest for me to project. I had all my chips on Deshawn Hanika and then he got injured and lost for the season. I have heard from people I trust that Grimes likes tall, more athletic type TE. And that's one reason Hanika was the odds-on favorite to win the starting job.
There were times watching Hanika I thought he was closer to a wide receiver than a tight end. When you look back at Baylor some of the trends I heard about Grimes play out. The last couple years at Baylor his TE were Drake Dabney (6-5, 248), Ben Sims (6-5, 252) and Jake Roberts (6-5, 248).
How the group looks on paper
Gone was the clear leader in Mason Fairchild. He played more snaps than all the other tight ends combined. Coming out of spring football I would say the depth chart was:
Trevor Kardell
Jared Casey
Tevita Noah
Jaden Hamm
I heard Kardell had a so-so spring and could have taken over as the clear leader, but did not. I asked Grimes about Casey and if he has coached a TE like that and Grimes baited me into clarifying what I was asking. I said "a TE that is around 6-feet tall." Grimes answered back, "oh he's six feet?" in a joking manner. I think Casey is the type of player who can work his way up the depth chart by the way he practices. He has good hands. The question will be if Grimes is really looking for a certain mold.
KU brought Noah on the team to block, but I don't know if that will fit what Grimes wants to do. I believe he wants a pass catching threat at all times on the field. All spring and summer I asked about Jaden Hamm and never got much. He could still be in the developmental stage.
The wild card in all this is Leyton Cure. He might be the best overall athlete in the group and is a converted quarterback. He was a good track athlete and he seems to fit what Grimes likes in tight ends. Grimes had one portal tight end available and he could have gone after a division one player, but he liked Cure. I told the story before, Grimes was happy with getting Cure even if his brother, Linkon, chose another school. Cure will have to learn a lot, and fast.
Carson Bruhn will get a year to develop while the upperclassmen show what they can do.
I believe the race to be on the two-deep is wide open. It might be the most interesting position battle of camp because we don't know what Grimes is looking for.
