Upside and downside: Tight ends - PowerMizzou: Missouri Tigers Football & Basketball Recruiting

Published Jun 7, 2023

Upside and downside: Tight ends

Jarod Hamilton • PowerMizzou

Staff Writer

Unfortunately, the Tigers had many struggles on offense with the biggest issue for the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and offensive linemen being inconsistency.

Those positions all had games where they showed flashes of being good but just couldn’t sustain it.

However, the tight end position never really got going in 2022. There were possessions where the tight ends flashed but there were never full games where they flashed.

But there are positives and negatives to each position heading into 2023 and tight end is no different.

Here, we will look at one significant positive and negative for Missouri's tight ends heading into the 2023 campaign.

Upside

Missouri played Tyler Stephens, Kibet Chepyator and Ryan Hoerstkamp last season and they combined for 10 receptions, 102 yards and two touchdowns. Stephens and Chepyator were also the Tigers' lowest-graded run blockers, according to PFF College.

That wasn’t enough last season and it won’t be enough this upcoming season.

The Tigers played two tight ends at a time in the rotation for most of last season, so there are two available spots and there are a lot of fresh faces who have a chance to seize an opportunity to be in the rotation.

Besides Chepyator, who used all of his eligibility, it’s truly an open competition among Stephens, Hoerstkamp, Max Whisner, four-star signee Brett Norfleet and possibly three-star signee Jordon Harris.

That’s the upside for this group.

Missouri has the flexibility to pivot in any direction it sees fit. If that is going back to the most experienced players (Stephens and Hoerstkamp) it can do that.

If that is going to the redshirt (Whisner) or one of the class of 2023 signees it can do that.

Each player presents some intrigue and for good reason.

Stephens is the most experienced player tight end on the roster with 742 snaps over 29 games dating back to 2020. Experience isn’t lost on tight ends coach Erik Link, who mentioned the lack of experience during the earlier portions of spring football.

“I mentioned this earlier to another person, but there is no greater teacher than experience,” Link said. “This group coming into last year was really inexperienced.”

Stephens transferred from Buffalo last year, and with a year under his belt in the system and a year to get acclimated to the SEC he has the upper hand on the rest of the tight ends in that regard.

Hoerstkamp, who probably had the best hands of the three tight ends who played last season, had the best game by a Mizzou tight end last season with two receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown versus New Mexico State.

Some of what limited Hoerstkamp’s ability to be on the field is probably his size.

He’s a tweener. So, he’s not fast enough to be a wide receiver but he’s also undersized which does him no favors when blocking SEC linebackers and defensive ends.

"Ryan was a guy that came out of high school as more of a receiver probably,” Link said. “Played more on the perimeter than in the core. So, the biggest adjustment for Ryan I think is just learning to play the complete position of tight end. He's got really good ball skills and the ability to make plays. But just becoming an every-down player to be able to execute as a blocker, but also make plays as a receiver that we want him to make.

“I think he brings a lot to the table, but Ryan's working on becoming a complete tight end. Sometimes that takes some time and some maturation both physically and mentally."

If Hoerstkamp can bulk up, he can possibly be in the rotation as the receiving threat that the Tigers didn’t have much of last season.

Whisner, who stands at 6-foot-4 and 242 pounds redshirted last season, but he still was able to get Link’s attention despite only touching the field briefly versus New Mexico State in week 12.

“I would say Max Whisner is a young kid that you can tell has really capitalized and taken advantage of his redshirt season,” Link said. “From a physical standpoint, he's further along as he should be. He's been here for a calendar year, so he's one guy (that’s stood out) for sure.”

The most exciting options are probably Norfleet and Harris.

Norfleet is 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds and is one of four Mizzou signees to be ranked above three stars.

En route to leading Francis Howell (MO) to a perfect season and state title, he proved that he is a suitable target in the receiving game by racking up 28 catches for 404 yards and seven touchdowns.

However, his willingness and ability to block are what will pave a pathway into the rotation.

Blocking SEC players is much different than blocking high schoolers but he showed that he is willing to engage and finish blocks. He will have to learn better techniques and some more stuff to play in SEC but his size and talent can't be overlooked.

Harris is also around 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, but he is more of a project than Norfleet. He didn’t start playing football until his senior year of high school.

He grew up playing basketball and led his high school to a state championship for the first time in almost a decade earlier this spring while averaging nine points and 10 rebounds per game.

It’s important to note though that Harris playing tight end isn’t a guarantee because the staff likes him at both tight end and defensive end. He racked up five receptions for 126 yards and three touchdowns as a tight end and 15 tackles, five tackles for loss and three sacks as a defensive lineman last season at Pine Bluff (Ark.).

His 7-foot-1 wingspan and his overall athleticism are why he’s categorized with the tight ends for this article because he has the physical traits to be a red zone target.

Again, he’s really raw and he’s probably trending towards being a redshirt, but he has the tools to be a nice weapon for the Mizzou offense when he’s ready.

Mizzou is basically starting from scratch at the position and with that there comes a possibility of being able to try a host of combinations until the Tigers find one they like best.

Downside

The downside to having an open competition and starting from scratch with a batch of largely unproven players is that the Tigers could be forced to play players who aren’t ready. That would indicate how much work is needed at the position.

Heading into the offseason it was probably the Tigers’ worse position and they didn’t add a tight end from the portal.

For all of the upside each of the five aforementioned tight ends has there is also some significant downside.

Again, Stephens struggled to be a receiving weapon and graded out as the team’s worst run blocker at 39.0.

Hoerstkamp is undersized.

Whisner and Norfleet are unproven commodities, and Harris is raw and an unproven commodity.

Typically, if the team can help it they won’t trot a true freshman or someone they still see as raw into SEC action unless it has to or that player has demonstrated they can do well.

Last season, wide receiver Mekhi Miller saw action when Barrett Banister, Luther Burden III and or Dominic Lovett were unavailable at points during the season and made the most of his opportunities. The same happened with Armand Membou at right tackle.

Miller will likely at the least be in the rotation while Membou is currently penciled in as the starting right guard entering fall camp. So, it worked out well Miller and Membou.

However, the same thing couldn’t be said for center Connor Tollison to the same degree.

He was a redshirt freshman in 2022 and it seemed like Buffalo transfer Bence Polgar would probably start at center before the NCAA ruled him ineligible for the entire season.

Tollison struggled for much of the season and still had struggles in spring ball.

That doesn’t mean Tollison can’t be a productive and useful player on the line, but as an undersized center still developing he didn’t have a great year. However, Missouri didn’t have much of a choice to not play him.

Burden was the anomaly having shown he could be a key impact player as a true freshman. The former five-star prospect started at wide receiver from week one onward and backed up the starting nod by recording a team-high nine touchdowns.

All in all, it’s an exciting prospect to have an open competition especially with the younger guys having a chance to break into the rotation.

Nonetheless, if the players don't develop how the Tigers need they may be forced into playing players that aren’t ready or playing players they know have limited skill sets.

Reality

This position is more open than any position on the roster because there isn’t a clear clubhouse leader to win the position.

It's a position battle that can go up until the season opener versus South Dakota on Aug. 31.

Missouri doesn’t need an all-conference player for this offense it just needs a tight end or two who are capable of not being liabilities on the field.

Usually, it would be easy to say a veteran is going to be one of the projected starters or part of the rotation going into fall camp and the regular season, but in this instance, it's more likely Norfleet is in one of those two rotation spots.

His grasp on the playbook and how well he performs in fall camp will determine if he burns a redshirt or not but it seems likely he will get an early chance to prove that he should at least be in the rotation.

The second spot is truly a toss-up that will also be decided in camp likely among Hoerstkamp, Stephens and Whisner.