More than a couple of eyebrows raised Friday afternoon when Sam Pittman announced in his press conference that freshman Blayne Toll is a tight end again.
“We’re trying to find two really good tight ends and if we can get three and four, that’d be great,” Pittman said.
He’s probably got one. By all accounts, Hudson Henry is doing fine as the No. 1 tight end.
“Henry caught a couple of short passes for touchdowns today,” Pittman said. “He broke a tackle and got in the end zone. It was good to see him have some success.”
Toll’s move from the defense may be because of the emergence of Julius Coates as a playmaker at defensive end and Dorian Gerald coming back from injury fully healthy.
Even though Pittman is acting publicly like nothing is locked down there, he’s trying to add numbers to a thin position.
“I don’t have a clue who the starting tight end is yet,” he said. “I’ll know a little bit more after I watch this film this afternoon, but this next scrimmage will be really, really big for the tight end position.”
The previous staff’s plan to redshirt Henry while using Cheyenne O’Grady as the starter and a committee after that backfired. O’Grady had to sit out some games for injury, then was kicked off the team later but they kept the redshirt on Henry.
“We’re still trying to figure out who’s one, two, three on the depth chart, including who’s the starter,” Pittman said. “Hudson, again, is doing a nice job, but he’s young and he hasn’t played, either.”
Without seeing a whole lot, though, Henry, who appears to have bulked up some in the offseason is the odds-on choice to be the starter.
Behind him would be true freshman Toll, senior Blake Kern (a former walk-on) and a couple of other true freshmen in Collin Sutherland and Eric Thomas.
It will be interesting to hear what the coaches think after looking at the film. Pittman’s press conference came right after the scrimmage ended Friday and he mentioned he was holding back any judgements until after seeing that.
“We’re just trying to find, to be honest with you, two really good tight ends,” he said, “and if we can get three and four, that’d be great.”
