Can Mizzou return to the glory days at tight end?
During Missouri’s football renaissance under Gary Pinkel, the Tigers became known for their production of defensive linemen. The program even dubbed itself “D-Line Zou” for the number of players who went on to be high-round NFL Draft picks.
But just in terms of college production, that may not have even been Missouri’s best position during those years. From 2004 to 2011, the Tigers got 597 catches, 6,166 yards and 56 touchdowns out of their three primary tight ends. Martin Rucker, Chase Coffman and Michael Egnew were all Mackey Award finalists at one time or another with Coffman winning it in 2008. All three had at least one season with 84 receptions or more.
“We talk about them, we’ve got some pictures of them on the wall,” freshman tight end Messiah Swinson said. “But it’s a little bit past my time.”
Over the next five seasons, Mizzou’s top tight end totaled just 72 catches for 694 yards and three touchdowns. The combined receptions, yards and touchdowns are all below what Missouri averaged in the eight seasons previous. But 2017 signaled a potential renaissance of the tight end in the Missouri offense. Redshirt freshman Albert Okwuegbunam caught 29 passes for 415 yards and 11 touchdowns, a mark that tied him with Iowa’s Noah Fant for the most among tight ends nationally.
“Watching Albert last year, that was something that really, really drew me here,” Swinson said.
“He stepped out on that field as a freshman and he looked like he belonged as much as anybody on the football field,” tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley said of Okwuegbunam. “The sky’s the limit for him. He’s got all the physical tools to do everything you want a tight end to do.
“I don’t know what else you want from a tight end.”
Headed into the 2018 season, there is optimism around Missouri camp that tight end could once again become a major strength of a high-powered offense. In addition to Albert O, senior Kendall Blanton has caught 22 passes for 299 yards and shown off sporadic big play ability over the last two seasons. Those around the program expect Blanton to hear his name called in next April’s NFL Draft.
“Absolutely. He’s the total package. You don’t get a lot of tight ends in the league that like to block and are good at it and can still go run routes and make catches. He can block as good as any tight end I’ve seen,” Finley said. “He’s got all the ability in the world, he just hasn’t done it much.
“He knows he’s got one year. One year to get as good as he possibly can in this offense and he’s come a long way since February.”
Beyond those two, Swinson is perhaps the most physically imposing member of the 2018 recruiting class. He checked into his first college practice at 6-foot-7 and 262 pounds and able to be identified as a true freshman only by the designation on the roster.
“We got a lot of talent even past me and Albert,” Blanton said. ““(Swinson)’s got a lot of athletic ability. What the hardest part for any freshman is is the mental part of the game and just getting accustomed to the speed of college football. And that’s what he’s trying to do right now. He’s making progress every day, he’s willing to learn, and he’s putting in the work, so I’m excited to see where this camp takes him.”
“He’s got the physical tools already,” Finley said. “He’s done a great job from day one to day two. If he continues to make that jump every single day, I expect him to be ready to play.”
Whether Swinson makes enough progress to be in the rotation in 2018 will be determined over the next month or so.
“It’s been one of my goals and coach Finley and I have talked about it throughout my recruitment,” Swinson said. “Always have the mindset of coming in and playing. Never have the mindset of I’m going to sit out and redshirt this year.”
Missouri also has redshirt sophomore Brendan Scales and redshirt freshman Logan Christopherson at the position. Finley has said in the past he feels he has five NFL tight ends potentially in the meeting room. And that affords the Tigers an ability to play more than one of them at the same time.
“If it puts you in a position with matchups…then you can do some creative things play-calling with that,” head coach Barry Odom said. “I think we’ll have an opportunity to do that.”
“It makes me play harder,” Blanton said of the competition. “I smile when I see them doing what they’re doing out there.”
The Tigers’ pedigree at the position extends beyond just the guys on the active roster. Finley had 775 receiving yards and ten touchdowns in his career at Oklahoma. Wide receivers coach A.J. Ofodile caught 73 balls for 851 yards in a three-year all-Big Eight career at Mizzou in the early 1990’s and played in the NFL until 1999. The coaches like what they see out of Missouri’s crop of tight ends.
“They’ve each got a little bit of a different skillset,” Odom said. “Got an opportunity through personnel groupings to get all those guys on the field in some fashion.”
“We’re going to lean on those guys heavily,” Ofodile said. “When you have veteran guys, you’re counting on them to not just do what they did a year ago, but take a step up in terms of production and leadership.”
The position has changed completely since Ofodile played it 25 years ago in college.
“The typical tight end back then was hand in the ground, not as much diversity in what you ask them to do,” Ofodile said. “Now the tight end’s kind of become the catch-all position that you have to be the fullback, you have to be the wideout, you have to be the actual in-line tight end. Those guys just have to have so much more versatility in terms of what they do.”
But in recent years, it’s changing back a little bit from the glorified wide receiver it became in its heyday at Mizzou.
“The tight ends stood up a lot and they were basically big receivers,” Okwuegbunam said. “He (Josh Henson) had told me that was kind of a problem with them transitioning to the NFL that they didn’t do a lot of in-line blocking. It’s kind of funny because it all worked out. I came in here and in (Josh) Heupel’s offense, I blocked a lot.”
Whether they can revive Missouri’s glorious not-too-distant past at tight end remains to be seen, but the Tigers have a handful of options for senior quarterback Drew Lock to use in addition to his wide receivers.
“Seeing what Albert did last year and wanting to build on that as a whole and just turn it into a whole group. I feel like we can do that, and I feel like we will do that this year,” Blanton said. “I feel good about where we’re at. I’ll tell you that.”