Three plays that show you why Kittle is the best TE in CFB

[Blair Sanderson]

Quite a headline and quite a breakdown by Pro Football Focus, who calls George Kittle the best all-around TE in college football.

Link:
Three plays that show you why Kittle is the best all-around TE in CFB

 

[IowaNiceHawk]

Not too bad for a young man that was virtually UNKNOWN and IGNORED until the Hawkeyes offered and developed him into an NFL ready TE

 

[IamHawkeye]

Not too bad for a young man that was virtually UNKNOWN and IGNORED until the Hawkeyes offered and developed him into an NFL ready TE

His Dad was on the Shrine Bowl game talking to the announcers and said George is up to 250 lb. Also said something about George's cousin Henry K-C and Denver which I didn't process

 

[David1979]

If he can stay healthy I think he will have a monster year. The kind of year from a TE that Iowa hasn't seen in awhile.

 

[Pepperman]

I think the above videos demonstrate he knows how to block!

As for the receiving side, here's my quick and dirty analysis. Figure CJ will complete about 250 passes this year, or to be conservative call it 20 per game.

My guess is Kittle will catch around 4-5 passes per game. That's going to mean he gets somewhere between 48-60 receptions? Just from a quick perusal of 2015 receiving stats, in FBS the top TE was from NC State and caught 65 balls. Next was a guy from Buffalo with 63. ECU's tight end caught 58. Jake Butt caught 51, and some guy from Arkansas also caught 51.

Bottom line - if he catches 50 balls, he likely would be in the top 5 of all TEs just on receiving alone.

I don't think it is a stretch at all to proclaim him the best overall TE.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

I think the above videos demonstrate he knows how to block!

As for the receiving side, here's my quick and dirty analysis. Figure CJ will complete about 250 passes this year, or to be conservative call it 20 per game.

My guess is Kittle will catch around 4-5 passes per game. That's going to mean he gets somewhere between 48-60 receptions? Just from a quick perusal of 2015 receiving stats, in FBS the top TE was from NC State and caught 65 balls. Next was a guy from Buffalo with 63. ECU's tight end caught 58. Jake Butt caught 51, and some guy from Arkansas also caught 51.

Bottom line - if he catches 50 balls, he likely would be in the top 5 of all TEs just on receiving alone.

I don't think it is a stretch at all to proclaim him the best overall TE.

If Beathard looks Kittle's way too much - opposing teams will just bracket him. Can he beat that?

We're going to need more targets emerge ... because opposing Ds are going to game-plan to limit Kittle and VandeBerg.

 

[WORTHYWISH]

If the OLine & CJ stay healthy, receiving won't be an issue at all.

 

[blockm2]

As for the receiving side, here's my quick and dirty analysis. Figure CJ will complete about 250 passes this year, or to be conservative call it 20 per game.

My guess is Kittle will catch around 4-5 passes per game. That's going to mean he gets somewhere between 48-60 receptions? Just from a quick perusal of 2015 receiving stats, in FBS the top TE was from NC State and caught 65 balls. Next was a guy from Buffalo with 63. ECU's tight end caught 58. Jake Butt caught 51, and some guy from Arkansas also caught 51.

Bottom line - if he catches 50 balls, he likely would be in the top 5 of all TEs just on receiving alone.

I don't think it is a stretch at all to proclaim him the best overall TE.

A slightly different way to look at it.

Last season Beatherd completed 223 passes, of which 56 went to TEs. If Beatherd completes a similar number of passes in a similar distribution to last season, what percentage of passes to TEs will be to Kittle? Will he be the only TE on the roster that gets more than 5 receptions this season? If so, he can likely put up that 50+ catch season.

 

[Pepperman]

If Beathard looks Kittle's way too much - opposing teams will just bracket him. Can he beat that?

We're going to need more targets emerge ... because opposing Ds are going to game-plan to limit Kittle and VandeBerg.

So, I kind of thought about that, but I'm not entirely sure where those other 15-16 receptions per game go?

VandeBerg 6-8
Kittle 4-5
Other WRs 4-5
RB Screens/Wheels 2-3
Other TE ~1
TOTAL 18-22?

I think the key thing for the TEAM'S success on offense is another WR stepping up, but that could end up hurting Kittle's receptions. I don't think Kittle would mind though!

 

[IowaNiceHawk]

So, I kind of thought about that, but I'm not entirely sure where those other 15-16 receptions per game go?

VandeBerg 6-8
Kittle 4-5
Other WRs 4-5
RB Screens/Wheels 2-3
Other TE ~1
TOTAL 18-22?

I think the key thing for the TEAM'S success on offense is another WR stepping up, but that could end up hurting Kittle's receptions. I don't think Kittle would mind though!

Actually, I think it will be More important that a 2nd TE options emerges.
Probably will be Pekar, but maybe Hockenson the Frosh, or Wisniewski

 

[WORTHYWISH]

From what I'm gathering, we'll be sending 3 or 4 guys to New York after the season.

 

[ghostOfHomer777]

So, I kind of thought about that, but I'm not entirely sure where those other 15-16 receptions per game go?

VandeBerg 6-8
Kittle 4-5
Other WRs 4-5
RB Screens/Wheels 2-3
Other TE ~1
TOTAL 18-22?

I think the key thing for the TEAM'S success on offense is another WR stepping up, but that could end up hurting Kittle's receptions. I don't think Kittle would mind though!

Given the quality of Iowa's RBs and the upside of our OL ... the coaches will still try to leverage the running game as much as they can. However, compared to prior seasons, like '13 or '15, we're not yet built to have a lot of quality auxiliary blockers on the field at the same time. This is a season where we'll be developing our fullbacks and developing our in-line TEs.

Thus, given how we're built this year, I really wouldn't be surprised if we utilize 11 personnel with the greatest frequency. The implication being that the #2 and #3 WRs get more looks than we're used to seeing. I agree about the nod to screen game - we really leaned heavily upon our screen game through at least the first half of '15. Given how Wadley flashed in the receiving game ... I think that he'll be able to carry on the torch from Canzeri in that regard. Furthermore, whenever we're off schedule, we'll likely see Beathard in the gun with Mitchell in the backfield ... so there will be intriguing options with him as the outlet receiver.

Jerminic Smith was able to get open last year ... which was promising. Let's see if he takes the next few steps in his development ... and maintains concentration when catching the ball. I'm really intrigued by the other guys too. The '16 season will be fascinating because we really will be depending on a bunch of guys emerging.

 

[terrehawk]

Actually, I think it will be More important that a 2nd TE options emerges.
Probably will be Pekar, but maybe Hockenson the Frosh, or Wisniewski

I think it will be hockenson. He has the size and looks like a freak in what I saw.