The tight end position was a question mark coming into the season, but it has evolved into a strength for the Kansas football team.
Only two of the tight ends had significant on-field experience when the season started, both transfers from other programs. DeShawn Hanika played for Iowa State for three seasons, but didn’t see much action until his junior season. Last year, he caught 17 balls for 244 yards and four touchdowns.
Boden Groen saw more action at Rice during his three years than Hanika did for the Cyclones, but he was coming off an injury. In this time at Rice, Groen had 60 catches for 556 yards and three touchdowns. His most productive season with the Owls was his sophomore season, when he pulled down 39 balls for 383 yards and all three of his scores.
Kansas football tight ends have been a pleasant surprise
While most of the individual numbers for the tight ends aren’t eye-catching, as a group, they’ve been productive. Hanika leads the unit with 10 catches for 97 yards and three touchdowns. His receptions rank third on the team overall, and his three touchdowns are tied for the team lead.
Groen is second among the tight ends in production with five catches for 87 yards and a touchdown. Head coach Lance Leipold has been impressed with Gruen’s progress in the program. Leipold said this about the transfer during his weekly news conference.
Carson Bruhn and Leyton Cure have also contributed in the passing game, combining for four receptions for 41 yards.
As a group, however, the tight ends contribute much more than just catching passes. They block in the run game, and they participate in special teams. Leipold was enthusiastic in his praise for the group as a whole.
"...The team is better when they’re all get their opportunities and not one guy’s going to take 95% of the snaps, even though they all want to play...That group, we got to continue to work on blocking, and some things like that that’ll help us in the run game, but they’ve all been able to make plays in the pass game, contribute on special teams and really, one of the other ones are not on there is Jaden Hamm, who played in his limited snaps at the end of the game [against West Virginia.] He really did a nice job as well.”
The tight end unit still has room to improve, and they will contribute more and more to the offense as the season progresses. Considering the lack of game experience most tight ends had coming into the season, they are already making a positive impact on the offense.