ORLANDO, Fla. – Among all of the UCF Knights’ offensive positions, the biggest question mark seems to rest on the tight ends.
The Knights have lost all of their tight ends used last season, including National Football League prospect Jordan Akins.
Despite the void left at a position that produced 856 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 54 receptions for the nation’s No. 1 scoring team last year, new tight-end coach Jon Cooper is confident his group will be a strength for UCF come fall.
“You know, we always play to our personnel strengths, and I think tight end will be a strength for us this year,” Cooper said after practice on April 16. “We’ve got some guys that haven’t played football in a long time but have some talent.”
With Akins’, then-senior Jordan Franks’ and then-redshirt senior Michael Colubiable’s departures, the remaining talent is mostly, if not completely, unproven.
Having been with the team since 2016, redshirt sophomore Anthony Roberson has been with the Knights the longest. He made his collegiate debut in 2017 but only saw time on special teams in seven games.
Redshirt sophomore Brett Bell and junior Chris DeLoach each played at junior colleges prior to joining UCF, as DeLoach recorded 113 yards and two touchdowns on 11 receptions for East Central Community College in Mississippi last season.
“As you said, we’re losing a lot from last year,” Cooper said. “I wasn’t with these guys, but, watching them on tape, they were good players. So there’s kind of a reason why these guys haven’t gotten playing time yet.”
UCF can also look forward to the addition redshirt sophomore Jake Hescock, a transfer from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a part of the 2017 team but sat out because of NCAA transfer rules.
His experience with the undefeated Knights was mostly detail-oriented, focusing on route running, blocking and other fundamental aspects of the position. Those lessons have partially carried over to the new staff in 2018.
“Some of it’s pretty similar,” Hescock said after practice on April 16. “And then Coach Coop…got with us preseason, and we kinda got a jump start of it, but last year and this year is more just footwork, route running, you know, catching the ball, all that and getting to go against the [No.] 1 defense.”
UCF was 33rd in the nation in rushing yards last season, averaging 198.7 yards per game, but that paled in comparison to its 10th-ranked passing attack. At tight end, the new Knights’ focus will be on the rushing game first.
But that’s not to say Heupel’s offense won’t have passing plays drawn up for this new group. When Heupel was the offensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers last season, he helped then-redshirt freshman Albert Okwuegbunam tie for first in tight-end receiving touchdowns with 11.
At 6-foot-7, 252 pounds, Hescock could emanate what Okwuegbunam, who is listed at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, did.
“You know, the biggest thing is being able to run the ball first,” Cooper said. “We wanna put them in the box, run the ball, use our 11-personnel run game first, and then we wanna be able to create a mismatch when they start putting bigger bodies in the box.
“We wanna be able to create a mismatch out wide where we’ve got long, big targets that can really run and create mismatches with secondary bodies.”
Something Cooper has learned about his tight ends in his first experience with the team is that they’re ambitious. Despite his group’s inexperience at the Division I level, Cooper said it’s a hungry group.
“Those guys have been getting pretty equal reps throughout spring, and they’re physical; they’re hungry,” Cooper said. “That’s the biggest thing is people think, ‘Oh, they don’t have a lot of experience,’ but these guys are all hungry. They know that that spot’s open and that there’s more than one guy that’s gonna get playing time.”
UCF’s tight ends will have an opportunity to create separation in the depth chart on Saturday when the Knights host their first spring game under Heupel. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.
For more on the Knights, as Heupel and Cooper look for their primary tight ends, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
