Tight End Room Revisited
- Thread starter Frank Lee
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GregInPitt
Well-known member
I know that Campbell really likes the TE's he brought from ISU. But Rappleyea is an All B10 TE.
It's going to be intersting to see how this works out. Just hope that none of the 3 get discouraged coming out of Spring practices and transfer. Burkle and Brahmer are Seniors and Rapp is a redshirt Junior who also likely has his sights on going into the 2027 NFL draft. Could 'TE U' put 3 TE's into one draft?
It's going to be intersting to see how this works out. Just hope that none of the 3 get discouraged coming out of Spring practices and transfer. Burkle and Brahmer are Seniors and Rapp is a redshirt Junior who also likely has his sights on going into the 2027 NFL draft. Could 'TE U' put 3 TE's into one draft?
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Maybe some out of the box stuff like a two tight end formation with another in the slot.
GregInPitt
Well-known member
Yep. My point was that TE's hoping to improve their draft status don't optimize that by sharing snaps with 2 other very good TE's and could be tempted to transfer to a team that would more showcase their talents.
Rappleyea was likely seeing himself as the clear #1 TE after Reynolds bailed out but it seems that he'll only be the co-#1 TE in 2026.
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LudicrousSpeedGO!
Well-known member
Ah, Brahmer is a senior and likely off to the draft next year. These guys will wait that out. Both have time and neither was a clear #1 before. Rapp came into this past season maybe #3 on our depth chart and pushed himself into more reps. Co-#1 isn't bad. I'm guessing Reynolds may have bailed because of Brahmer though.
Brahmer and the fact that all of us saw that the team was better with Rap in vs Reynolds. Once JF was out and TS was making playing time decisions, look at the guys who got more snaps the second half of the year
LudicrousSpeedGO!
Well-known member
I still like Reynolds a ton. He had some things to work on but a high ceiling. Brahmer is an acceptable trade IMO particularly because he knows the offense and the new QB is already comfortable with him. Probably will get more out of him this season than we would have Reynolds.
RickinDayton
Well-known member
Reynolds was a blocking liability.
LudicrousSpeedGO!
Well-known member
I still think he can develop that. Unfortunately, by some accounts, so is Brahmer. I think Rapp is the most complete TE. Bottom line, TE is about last on my list of concerns.
Yep. All three are brawlers who can catch. It's the best position room on the roster. With Becht's scrambling ability and hopefully not a "lock on" guy, the passing game, and the offense in general, should provide a decent run-pass balance. I'm looking forward to it.
LudicrousSpeedGO!
Well-known member
I'm cautiously optimistic about the offense. I don't see explosive receivers but the rest looks to be in place if the OL comes together. The receivers instead seem to be big move the chains types. The biggest concern for me is depth on the DL. I hope we can hold up to Big 10 OLs. But they are going with some bigger run stuffers at DT so maybe. Not comfortable with the depth at DE but there is possibly some high side talent. We'll have to see how it plays out. Health will likely make a big difference either way. I think we'll have more toughness, more so then even the 2nd half of last season. But I also am not sure about our talent ceiling.
I'm hoping the new, super-sized DL interior forces some things. And more MLB strength than speed (Bacon?) should help clog things in the middle. This creates opportunities for the edge guys and OLBs (Rojas?) to shine by containing and/or stringing things out.
It was frustrating watching RBs from MSU, UCLA, and others consistently get 5+ yards in that 10-wide channel between the tackles.
I think our defensive line will be much better than last year. Those big guys in the middle will be taking up three blockers for every two linemen much more than last year. That should leave Granville and Rojas one on one with a tackle if the other one has the tight end helping.
GregInPitt
Well-known member
Exactly. He played more like a big WR and given the sorry production from the 2025 WR's the team may have been better off playing Reynolds more as a top throw to target. Hudson was a bust and Ross wasn't much better.
As last season went along it showed that Rapp was as good as Reynolds as a receiver and also a top blocking TE. Clearly a top all around TE. I believe he'll have a great NFL career, very likely as good as any NFL TE from PSU except for Warren.
The downside to the 2026 TE room is that all 3 off the top TE's will likely be gone after the 2026 season. And with all three of them getting almost all of the TE reps in 2026 the 2027 TE room will need an infusion from the portal as the other returning TE's will have minimal or no experience at all.
