Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - The Kansas Jayhawks Tight End Group is KU's Deepest Position in a Multiple Offense

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, we're previewing the tight end position group for KU. Is it as deep as it has ever been for the Jayhawks? How dominant can this position be for KU here in 2023? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also like and subscribe to the show on our YouTube page as we continue to try to add to our in-home studio here in the transition there. We're going to talk KU tight end group here today, previewing the group as it is deep as it has ever been for KU. Players to watch, future players to watch, all that sort of thing on this episode of the show, which is brought to you by Bird Dogs. Go to birddogs.com slash lockedoncollege or enter promo code lockedoncollege for a free white tech hat, like I'm wearing right now. With any purchase, you won't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you that.

Starting point is 00:01:16 Okay, so quick overall thoughts on the tight end group here for KU. The first thing is you return your starter with Mason Fairchild, who was all Big 12 second team a year ago. He is someone who is being expected to be, once again, a consistent and a big threat for this team as both a blocker and a pass catcher. Jared Casey, everybody's darling from 2021, had a really impactful 2022 season, whether it was catching four touchdown passes, leaking out of the backfield and finding openings. I think everybody's favorite Jared Casey play from last year.

Starting point is 00:01:48 I don't know. Would it be the Texas Tech one? Him just running away. He was also the guy who caught the two point conversion that sent it to the next overtime before Kansas failed on the two point conversion in the Liberty Bowl against Arkansas. But he was also a really good blocker. I thought Fairchild got a lot better as a blocker. Casey springed a lot of key blocks last season. Then you have Trevor Cardell, who's been someone who has played kind of rotational snaps

Starting point is 00:02:10 over the last two years for KU. Maybe he's taking another step forward this year, but somebody who the staff has very liked and obviously has a lot of talent that if he does take that step and puts it all together, he could be somebody who is a very big impact player for the team. And those three guys will really, I think, develop what you mostly expect to see players playing a ton of double-digit snaps per game from the tight end room. But there are other guys who could fill in to a certain handful of plays here or there to do something that they're good at, or if there's an injury, or you just want to get extra rest to certain guys. You think about Will Huggins, a former highly recruited three-star prospect from the Kansas City area at one of the

Starting point is 00:02:49 Shawnee schools. And he's someone who is like six foot seven. He can be a big pass catcher, kind of had to deal with injuries over the course of the early part of his career. If he can put stuff together, he's someone that I still believe in him and high on. Tevita Noah, you brought over from Snow College in Utah from a year before. he was thought of as one of the best blocking tight ends on the group. So if you need an extra blocker for goal line packages or something, you can bring him in, you know, Jared Casey, I think of him as like kind of a tight end H back fullback, uh, you know, mix, maybe Noah can be a backup to that because of the blocking ability that you have there. Obviously you bring in Jaden ham, who's one of the top 10 recruits in the state of Kansas, into this position after he flipped from Arkansas, and you have even

Starting point is 00:03:29 more depth, possibly, at this position. So it's a very deep position all the way through. KU is going to want to play a lot of tight ends. They have a lot of sets where it's not just one tight end, it's two, maybe even three in the specific formation for KU, and that allows you to be multiple. That allows you to run out of a lot of different sets, pass out of a lot of different sets. Having that depth, the tight end is important. And KU has just that, especially with how Andy Kotelnicki wants to run the offense. There's a lot of talent at the top.

Starting point is 00:03:56 I think Mason Fairchild, if he has another strong year here, he could be a potential NFL draft pick. Now, I don't expect him to necessarily be like, you know, first, first second round pick but could I see him being a sixth round pick after another productive year and you know having a nice jump start to his NFL career yeah I absolutely could he was a really good player for you last year who got so much better at run blocking from where he was the year before and he's been a good pass catching tight end uh really since he's came in Jared Casey is your folk hero um it sounds like Trevor Cardell is kind of breaking out over the course of camp, which makes it very interesting for trying to figure out

Starting point is 00:04:30 how are they going to divvy up the snaps of these players. Typically Fairchild got your most snaps of the players. Casey would get kind of game to game somewhere between 25 to 40 snaps, depending on the style you were trying to play that game, depending on how it was going. With Cardell, there were some games where it was maybe 9, 10, 15 snaps, somewhere in that range. Do you shave a couple off Fairchild?

Starting point is 00:04:51 Do you shave a couple off Casey? Does Cardell usurp Casey? I don't know. That becomes an interesting question. I do think all of them will play to a certain regard. And, you know, when you look at it, like, is this as deep as the position has ever been for Kansas? Certainly since I can think of covering KU.

Starting point is 00:05:06 I can't speak to, if you go back to a year in the 1970s or 1980s, about how deep a position group was with tight ends. How was the third string back on the 1982 team? I don't know. Since I have been watching, covering KU, whatever, decade, decade plus now, this is the best group I can remember. There have been other good tight ends that have come through the program for KU. Whether you think of Jimmy Mundine, who was a really good pass catcher.

Starting point is 00:05:33 Ben Johnson was a solid overall tight end. Jay Sternberger was here for a bit before he transferred, and he made more of his name at Texas A&M and then eventually into the NFL. But you've had some good tight ends be able to come through here at KU. You look at any of these guys, though, and I mean, I even go, you know, you go down to Trevor Cardell, if he is end up being the third tight end or Jared Casey or whoever, like that guy is probably good enough to be maybe your best tight end on a lot of different past rosters.

Starting point is 00:06:01 And then you go even deeper than that. I remain a gigantic Will Huggins stand that like at some point that's going to work out six, seven with, you know, receiver fluidity and catching the football. If you can continue to add to the run blocking game of this, this becomes a more dominant thing because 2021, the tight ends did struggle. You look at the pro football focus numbers, they struggled in run blocking, which is a problem for a team that wanted to use them a lot in run blocking. Last you think of all the key blocks that jared casey was in on you see a big run typically jared casey was springing the kind of final block to make it

Starting point is 00:06:33 all possible the final piece of the puzzle there mason fairchild got so much better at it as i've mentioned already twice now uh trev cardell even got better at it from last year if they can go up another level from being they were good run blockers last year what if they can become great run blockers in this unit gets even better from where it was a season ago, but that's the beauty of it. You have a lot of balance in this tight end group because all those guys can catch passes. Jared Casey has some of the best hands on the team.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Mason Fairchild, that one pass where it just floated over his shoulder from Jalen Daniels and he just happened to catch it. Like that showed you the level of concentration and hands that he has. Yet. I think the one-handed catch was a South Dakota in 2021. Trevor Cardell is, has been someone who has been known for his receiving ability and athleticism,

Starting point is 00:07:13 obviously a former two-way player with baseball too. So like you kind of have a little bit of everything from this tight end group. You have the depth, you have the future talent, you have the current talent, you have possible pro talent, even in, in probably Fairchild and Cardell. Casey, maybe he profiles more to being like a fullback at the

Starting point is 00:07:31 NFL level if he can make it that far. It's just a very talented group and one that is going to be critical on the offense because of how much you move them. So without a doubt for me, this is probably, you know, this year of Mason Fairchild, like he was already all big 12 second team last year, and you get him back for another year, hypothetically, you're better too. He's probably the best tight end you've had over the last decade plus. You know, maybe you go back to like, I don't know, the Mangino era, if you want to say like Tim Beery, or if you want to say, I'm blanking on the guy's name from the Orange Bowl.

Starting point is 00:08:01 I'm sorry about this. Hit him up in the comments. And then about being a NFL draft pick a tight end i apologize um you know probably since then this is your best starting tight end you feel great that this is probably your best second string tight end third string tight end fourth string tight end fifth string tight end so uh i think that will have a big impact on the offense with how much you use them especially your offensive coordinator is the tight ends coach other names to keep an eye on outside of those top three, Mason Fairchild, Jared Casey, Trevor Cardell, because I think the playing time, I think there's going to be a high floor for all three of those guys.

Starting point is 00:08:36 If I'm picking someone to make that big impact outside of that, who could it possibly be? And maybe some future players to watch out of the tight end group. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by eBay Motors. For a championship team, it's all about making sure every player is a perfect fit. It's the same when it comes to your vehicle. Every part needs to fit just right. So the next time you need parts and accessories, head to eBay Motors. With eBay guaranteed fit, you can be sure every part fits just right the first time around.

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Starting point is 00:10:06 Again, this is someone who is very athletic. He's 6'7". He can catch passes. Now, how will that be used? Is that just someone that you use at a goal line situation? And that is the beauty of college football versus pro football. It more so applies for home games, I guess, because on road games, you're not traveling everyone.

Starting point is 00:10:22 But in the NFL, you can only dress, what is it? 53 guys in a given game. And so you have to make certain, I think it's 53 on the roster. I think you can even dress less than that. Maybe it's like 45 or something. But that really limits your number of players at each position you can have. In college, because you can basically just be like, ah, we got six guys here. We got seven guys. You really can just be like, hey, we got six guys here, we got seven guys, you really can just be like, hey, we're only going to use you for this one play. We're only going to use you for this one formation because it's not going to inhibit your numbers around the rest of the rosters. What if Will Huggins was just used as a goal line package guy

Starting point is 00:10:58 in terms of being 6'7", hey, throw him up a football. I'm not a huge fan of the fade routes, especially on third and goal goal fourth and goal. I don't mind it as much on first and goal and second and goal. Cause you have some of the plays to work with, but if you are in a situation on fourth and goal or something where it's like, Hey, uh, we ran the play, everything was covered. What do we do? It's nice to have a safety valve that you can just be like, well, we're just going to throw up a 50, 50 ball who represents our best chance to catch that 50, 50 ball? Maybe your answer is Lawrence Arnold or Quentin Skinner, one of these big receivers,

Starting point is 00:11:30 but maybe it's Will Huggins at six foot seven as a tight end. And so just having that ability, I think is going to be really important. And I really like Will Huggins, what he could bring to the lineup. I don't necessarily know that we're going to see a ton of it this year, just because those guys are, I don't know. It's so firmly implanted with where Fairchild, Casey, and Cardell are at this point that it'd be hard to pick someone else to get

Starting point is 00:11:52 enough playing time to even hit that level to where they'd be having a breakout season. So I don't think it's very likely at that point, but I do think there is a certain role for both those guys and maybe even special teams too too. Like maybe you become key special teams players. And that brings up Jaden Hamm, too, who is your incoming freshman from Eudora High School. You know, maybe he can be someone who kind of sticks out for you in this first year. Now, I don't expect that to happen. And I'll be interested to see if they redshirt anyone in this group. You know, you go down the line and if you have those top three guys who are clearly your top three, I think Will Huggins has used a red shirt. Tavita Noah, I don't know. Maybe you

Starting point is 00:12:29 could red shirt him and get him another year back, but Jaden Hammond would make a ton of sense to red shirt him because you could still get him in four games if you wanted to. You love those new red shirt rules, and then you could have him still for your possibly four years of the future. Because when you think ahead to 2024, well, Mason Fairchild would have been graduated, and then Trevor Cardell and Jared Casey will be seniors by then. And then you get to 2025, and now Fairchild, Cardell, and Casey are all gone from KU at that point. So if you can get one of these guys to redshirt one of these years, specifically Jaden Hamm would make probably the most sense

Starting point is 00:13:05 there then it allows you to kind of slow progress this while also being to a point where you get to save those years on the back end since you do feel like you have a very deep tight end group since you do feel like um this is a group that's very talented at the top and because you're going to have probably two of those three guys back for next year on top of what you already have for this year. All right, we're going to get on to the possible future of the position here to finish things up. And the question, could this actually be Kansas' top position group on the team? First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks will take a quick timeout.

Starting point is 00:13:43 All right, so the future of the position group. You heard me just talking about it with, you know, after this year, you'll have Mason Fairchild departing after the year after. Jared Casey, Trevor Cardell, their eligibility would be exhausted. So I think you look at it this year, yeah, Fairchild, those other two play the most. Huggins, Noah are situational guys. Maybe Hamm ends up redshirting.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Then you go to 2024, and, you know, maybe Cardell is the starter. Casey maintains the same role as kind of a tight end H-back hybrid. And Huggins or Ham assumes the third string at that point in time. Now, keep in mind, you also have Carson Bruin in your class of 2024. So maybe he comes in and he follows the path of Ham this year, which is possible. And he red shirts in 2024. And then you gets to 2025. Cardell and Casey are gone.

Starting point is 00:14:27 And then at that point, maybe it's Jaden Ham's turn to shine. Because I believe Will Huggins would be out of eligibility by then. And then you would also have Carson Bruin at that point as a redshirt freshman, while Jaden Ham would be a redshirt sophomore. In addition to any other players you bring on via recruiting, via the transfer portal. So that's kind of the future of that position. You feel like you're covered for a while though, because of what you currently have, because of having Jaden Ham down the road. It gives you a lot of coverage. And Ham, I'm really excited for what he could be down the road. You

Starting point is 00:14:55 know, he was in more of a running offense, kind of a triple option offense at Udor High School. Didn't get to show off his athleticism and catching as much. Obviously that stuff was more shown to the KU staff when you're in some of the camp settings and you're asking them to do different things. But he's someone who I think has untapped potential because of that, because he's going to add to his game pretty progressively from then on. So I'm excited for him. I'm excited for Carson Broon when he comes in also. Now, will this be KU's top position group this upcoming season here in 2023? It's an interesting question. If Jalen Daniels is healthy all year long, or it's just Jalen Daniels and Jason Bean,

Starting point is 00:15:29 and you get similar, if not better production from what you got last year from the quarterback inherently because it is the quarterback, that will be the answer. You could also say, though, there are more questions about the depth, like third string on with the quarterback position than with tight end. The star power, let alone of Jalen Daniels, probably makes you pick that one. But if you want to go top to bottom

Starting point is 00:15:50 and you want to argue depth does have a big important factor there, then maybe we don't take quarterback. If we just want to take quarterback away from this discussion of what is the best position group on the offense and overall for KU, maybe we should just, you know, in general, take that away because it is a different position. Every other position you're rotating in guys to a certain extent due to fatigue, injury or something with quarterback. It's like you're only rotating if it's a trick play, maybe once a game or like a trick formation or if it's like an injury. Right. So it's just kind of different. If we compare it to running back, I think there are some valid comparisons there. You kind of have the star power at the top, maybe more star power with Devin Neal than Mason Fairchild at the top. You have some good depth behind it. I think tight end goes five or six deep, whereas running back

Starting point is 00:16:31 might go four or five deep. And also there have been more injury concerns, I think, at running back. So I think you could argue tight end. The receiver group, I think you feel very good about the receiver group too. But the way I view it, you know, the tight end group, like this could very well be one of the best tight end groups in the entire big 12. And I think that could be the case too for receivers. But again, when you go six deep on tight ends and yeah, you could say, oh, you go six deep on receivers too. It's different at receiver. Cause you're going to be playing, you know, a lot of formations where I have two, three, or maybe even four on the field at once where's the tight end uh typically it's just going to be one or two with the occasional three so um i don't know that would be a good argument there it's it's probably better than than any of the

Starting point is 00:17:14 defensive positions maybe save defensive back um with the corner you have a lot of experience with caitlin gervin kobe bryant um you add in Demarius McGee, Mello Dotson's back, the safety spot, you bring back your three guys, main guys with Kenny Logan, Marvin Grant, and OJ Burrows that, you know, if you wanted to take the defensive back group over the tight ends, but it's tough, man, because Mason Fairchild, again, he was second team all Big 12 last year. So if you're just starting at the top and comparing it to any other positions across the KU has, you have to start there and be like, well, if you at the top are second team, all big 12, or just all big 12 worthy, you know, then that gets you a match there. And we know this group is deep about five or six deep. Maybe that's the best way to put it. I don't know that

Starting point is 00:17:57 this is KU's best position group, but it might just be their deepest. It might just be the one that they have the most depth and ability to overcome injury or fatigue over the course of the season. Obviously, you still don't want that because there still is going to be a drop-off from Trevor Cardell or Mason Fairchild to your guys who are fourth or fifth string. It's not like there is no drop-off there, but the drop-off is probably a little bit smaller in this position group than it is maybe at running back or, you know, from the, I don't know, fourth to fifth string or fifth to sixth string then, or a quarterback from second to third string or something like that. And Andy Kotelnicki sure has kept the cupboards full for KU at the tight end position. All right, we're going to get to more positional previews coming up later next week on Locked on Jayhawks. Get to the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Some of the defensive line questions too. We also are going to get to a, you know, it's been one week since KU in Puerto Rico next Monday, where we'll have some overall takeaways from the trip with a week out, maybe some overreactions to what we saw on the trip. So you're not going to want to miss either of those shows. I will be out of town this weekend and next Monday and Tuesday. So I'm going to try to schedule that episode kind of ahead of time. And then we'll be back probably after that on Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:19:12 So stick around for those shows. You can hit me up on Twitter. If there's anything you want to talk about, any questions you have at D Johnson radio, you can also find our show anywhere you get any of your podcasts and you can like and subscribe to our show on our YouTube page. Please give us a positive review. If you give the thumbs up real easy on YouTube, or if you do listen on the audio side with the podcast, if your platform does allow you to leave a review, give us a positive review. It's very helpful on our end

Starting point is 00:19:42 of things. And thanks again. Have a good rest of your weekend. Have a good rest of your day and see you next time with Locked on Jayhawks. Later.

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Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - The Kansas Jayhawks Tight End Group is KU's Deepest Position in a Multiple Offense

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