Penn State Football: position grades for the tight ends

Grading the performance of the Penn State Football tight ends for the 2021 regular season

For some of the units on the Penn State Football team, the 2021 season was, by and large, a success.

For others, not so much.

So how did the Nittany Lions‘ tight ends grade out on the season?

Here are the stats for Penn State Football’s tight ends this season

2021 Wide Receivers
Brenton Strange – 19 rec 226 yards 3 TDs
Theo Johnson – 19 rec 213 yards 1 TD
Tyler Warren – 4 rec 61 yards 1 TD

When James Franklin hired Mike Yurcich in the offseason prior to the 2021 season, it was no secret the tight end position was not a focal point of his offenses.

Here’s a look at what the top tight end did in each of the past three seasons under Yurcich:
2018 Oklahoma State – 7 rec 120 yards 2 TDs
2019 Ohio State – 14 rec 142 yards 4 TDs
2020 Texas – 15 rec 159 yards 2 TDs

These numbers certainly don’t scream “prolific”.

But, it’s clear Yurcich at least attempted to get the talented crew of tight ends involved in the offense this past season. So how did they really do?

Both Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson were able to extend the field and make plays at times, however, it’s difficult to put up consistent receiving numbers when the quarterback is constantly looking for #5 streaking down the field. And who can blame him?

Then there were the ill-timed drops. I’m not going to name any names but had one of the guys listed above hauled in a key third-down pass at Iowa, the final score may have been different.

Unfortunately, the case of the “dropsies” for the tight ends also reared its head in other Penn State Football losses. But it’s a team effort and I’m not going to blame the losses on this.

How about the blocking in the run game for Penn State Football tight ends?

While I would grade the receiving as above average, I’m going to say the run blocking was far from adequate. Far too many times the tight ends would whiff or barely slow down their blocking responsibilities. Couple this with an offensive line that also struggled to run block and it was a recipe for disaster. Hence the horrendous rushing numbers.

Final grade for Penn State Football’s tight ends: C-

Another caveat to this grade was the play of Tyler Warren, as he was mainly thrust into duties in a wildcat-like package due to his experience at quarterback in high school. Early on in the season, this package had success as Warren scored TDs in each of the games against Auburn and Villanova.

But, as the season wore on the package became less and less effective as teams were used to seeing it.

My point in bringing this up is simple; if the tight ends, in conjunction with the offense line, could have been more dynamic in the running game then these packages wouldn’t have been necessary. But as it was, they weren’t and the packages became necessary.

Maybe the blocking will get better next year? It can’t get a whole lot worse.