Through all of the practices and evaluations, through all of the sweat and snaps up to the point, the Kansas football team has been unable to establish a firm pecking order for the initial depth chart for the tight ends.
While competition is always good, not having a clear-cut TE1 is a problem. The fact that none of the candidates has separated themselves means that they are going to try to earn the top spot during the games, and that doesn’t seem like the greatest scenario.
It would be a different story if the tight end room were full of experienced guys with plenty of catches and touchdowns. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Boden Groen has 60 catches from his time at Rice, and DeShawn Hanika has 17 receptions in 2022 when he suited up for Iowa State.
Michael Swain from 247Sports provided a visual of the initial depth chart on X.
NEW: #KUfball releases its first depth chart of 2025. pic.twitter.com/uwJRqp77sm
— Michael Swain (@MSwain247) August 18, 2025
The depth chart reads DeShawn Hanika, OR Carson Bruhn, OR Boden Groen, OR Leyton Cure. These players are going to have to prove themselves on the field.
The Kansas football tight end situation is not ideal
Things very well could work out, but none of these guys have earned the top spot on the depth chart. According to the depth chart, all four are on at least nearly equal footing.
If you wanted, you could take something from the order the tight ends are listed, except for the fact that the chart is very specific in that the word “or” is capitalized, bolded, and underlined. That would indicate that TE1 is very much undetermined, and that is not ideal.
The best-case scenario would be for one or two of these tight ends to play well on Saturday against Fresno State. If someone can establish themselves with a big game, either blocking in the run game, or in protection in the passing game, or in pulling in some catches in the offense, that would probably help clear up the situation.
Having four tight ends who are evenly matched could end up being a good thing, but it also means you don’t have one good enough yet to be the guy. Hopefully, this situation will clear up within Fresno State, or maybe by the end of the second game against Wagner.