Ask Farrell: Which conference is best at producing NFL TEs?
The Big Ten – and especially Iowa – received a lot of attention in the 2019 NFL Draft for tight ends when T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant from the Hawkeyes both went in the first round.
The conference as a whole has done a tremendous job developing tight ends for the NFL as 14 of them over the last five drafts have been taken.
It has not only been Hockenson and Fant but last year Michigan’s Zach Gentry was picked in the fifth round. In the 2018 draft, Penn State’s Mike Gesicki was a second-round selection, Indiana’s Ian Thomas went in the fourth and Wisconsin’s Troy Fumagalli was a fifth-round pick.
Consistently over the last five drafts, Big Ten tight ends have come off the board at a regular pace. But not at the fastest clip.
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During that stretch, the SEC has had 16 tight ends drafted – two more than the Big Ten – and for three of those drafts a tight end from that conference came off the board first. In 2016, Arkansas’ Hunter Henry was the pick. In 2017, Alabama’s O.J. Howard and Ole Miss’ Evan Engram were first-round picks. South Carolina’s Hayden Hurst was the only first-round selection in the 2018 draft.
Other than the SEC and the Big Ten, no other Power Five conference had double-digit picks at tight end over the previous five drafts. The Pac-12 and the ACC each had eight and the Big 12 had five. Notre Dame has had three.
Heading into this year’s draft, Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet is expected to be taken off the board first but maybe not in the first round. Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins is high on lists as well but the SEC will also be well-represented with Missouri’s Albert Okwuegbunam, Arkansas’ Cheyenne O’Grady, LSU’s Thaddeus Moss and others.
When it comes to ranking tight ends coming out of high school and then developing them in college, is the Big Ten or the SEC best? We ask Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell.
FARRELL'S TAKE
"Almost every SEC team has had an elite tight end come out over the last decade and the same can’t be said about the Big Ten, so I’m going with depth over a few teams like Iowa and Penn State carrying the conference weight.
"Name an SEC program and I’ll tell you of a tight end who has made an impact in the league the last decade or so. Okay, so not everyone has had that kind of success but many have. Arkansas with Henry, Ole Miss with Engram, Auburn with C.J. Uzomah, Alabama with Howard, Tennessee with Jason Witten, Florida with Trey Burton, South Carolina with Jared Cook and so on and so on.
"And it will continue next year with Kyle Pitts as the best tight end in the 2021 draft class. The Big Ten has George Kittle and some others but the depth is in the SEC as always."