Big game for TE T.J. Hockenson
- Thread starter Blair Sanderson
- Start date
Well, the staff did pull his offer so posters weren't the only ones unimpressed with his stats.
With Kirk, Brian, and Reese there to mentor Woods as a TE position coach - I think that we're going to continue to see great blocking TEs.
If you look at how the guys are staggered, in '16 Kittle will be a SR, Wisnieski will be a JR, Outsey will be a SO, Vejvoda will be a RS FR, and Hockenson and Fant will both be FR. Definitely A LOT of opportunity for Hockenson and Fant to make noise as RS FR in '17. Heck, if one of them really comes to work early ... there may even be some opportunity in '16.
It doesn't matter how much talent we have at TE, if the offensive coordinator doesn't get them involved with the offense like O'Keefe did, our streak of all big ten caliber TEs doesn't continue. Last year, under Davis' tutalage (and Ruduck, of course), tight ends didn't have time to get the ball because Jake was throwing 3 yard outs to the tailbacks while the TEs were still shedding blocks. I would love to see us use some two tight end sets and get those guys the ball 10 times per game.
Rudock had a tendency to try to get rid of the ball REALLY quickly. A big part of that is that he was mostly an "on schedule" QB. Iowa's O was really efficient under him in terms of moving the chains ... however, we were mediocre, AT BEST, when it came to scoring. When Iowa was off schedule - we were screwed with Rudock at the helm. Will things be different with Beathard at the helm? I honestly don't know ... however, given Beathard's confidence in his arm ... I'm willing to bet that he'll take more time to look downfield.
Even when we had Rudock at the helm, Iowa TEs accounted for over a quarter of the receptions in 2013 and over a fifth of the receptions in 2014.
The bigger question will be whether Beathard will get protected long enough to "find" TEs as downfield targets.
Similar threads
