Outside of the offensive line, tight ends are often the biggest guys on the field. However, they are tasked with doing a bit of everything. They need to be physical, agile and dominant.
Up to this point in training camp, position coach Josh Miller is pleased with where his room is, and appreciates the fearless mindset that the players have.
“I’ve been very pleased with their growth, they’ve all leaned into the physicality needed to be successful,” he said. “Obviously, we can clean up on you know some
of our tracks and some of our hand placements in the run game, but none of them are scared and they’re going to be violent, and I’ve been super proud of them for choosing violence most of the practices.”
The main focus for the tight end room is to be physically dominant in run blocking. Once they have that down it comes down to who separates themselves as a pass catching threat, and Illinois transfer Cole Rusk has proven himself to be that kind of threat. Miller also believes there is more to Rusk’s game than meets the eye.
“He’s got great body control, great feel for space, he knows how to separate to create lanes we know to throw in,” said Miller. “I’ve been really pleased with what he’s been doing in the run game, and so I think he can be a complete tight end.”
The starting tight end spot is still up in the air, but last year’s starter has been on a journey of recovery. In last season’s opener against Hawaii, Tyler Powell was injured on the first play of the game and his season ended right then and there. Powell’s recovery process has been long, but for him it was not as rough as most would think.
“I think my recovery has been super smooth all the way through, I just got cleared the other day fully to be fully back and doing everything,” he said. “I think it’s just been a steady process of rehabbing right after the injury happened, and then getting back into the football skills as I got further along in my recovery.”
Both Rusk and Powell have taken the veterans role in what is a relatively young room. Sophomore Southern Miss transfer Shane King has been able to take in a lot of advice from both veterans and it has only pushed the competition level higher.
“I have two other guys above me, so I’m just learning from them and they’re teaching me everything,” said King. “I’m teaching them stuff as well, like just route running and stuff, and then they’re teaching me the blocking game and just becoming smarter as a player has been really good.”
At 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds, King brings raw athleticism to the room and Powell has taken note of it. Safe to say that he does not look like a typical sophomore.
“I think Shane’s an outstanding player,” said Powell. “I think he’s one of the most athletic tight ends in the room, and I think he does some things in the pass game that I would love to learn from. I think he’s going to be an outstanding player.”
King along with the other young tight ends have bright futures at Arizona, but this season it will more than likely be Rusk and Powell leading the charge. However, in taking the leadership roles that they have, both have not left anyone behind in the process of becoming better.
“I’m super proud of how they’ve kind of taken the bull by the horns and led those guys,” said Miller. “They facilitated a lot of positive relationships with the young guys. I think they know some of the things that the young guys are doing now at a young age, they weren’t doing when they first got to college football. So it’s good for them to kind of be the good cop to coach Miller’s bad cop on certain days.”
