The Texas Longhorns upgraded the position room of tight ends coach Jeff Banks on Monday with the commitment of Michigan State Spartans tight end Michael Masunas.
The 6’5, 259-pounder has one season of eligibility remaining.
Out of Phoenix-area powerhouse Hamilton in the 2022 recruiting class, Masunas signed with Michigan State over offers from Arizona, Florida State, Maryland, Tennessee, Utah, and others. A consensus three-star prospect, Masunas was
ranked as the 1,046 player nationally and the No. 56 tight end, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Masunas did not play while redshirting during the 2022 season before playing 42 snaps on special teams and four snaps on offense as a redshirt freshman, with 40 of those snaps coming on kickoff return. In 2024, Masunas stepped into the starting role for the first four games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, recording four catches for 37 yards and earning decent grades from Pro Football Focus for his run blocking and pass blocking.
As a redshirt junior in 2025, Masunas showed improvement as a pass catcher with 19 catches on 21 targets, notching 232 receiving yards and three touchdowns with an average depth of target of 8.3 yards and 4.3 yards after the catch per reception, as well as one drop, according to PFF. In run blocking, Masunas didn’t perform as well as he did in a limited sample size in 2024, but was more reliable as a pass blocker, allowing one quarterback hit and three pressures in 81 pass-blocking snaps.
The expectation at Texas is for Masunas to serve as the team’s primary in-line blocker, especially in 12 personnel, while providing more value than rising redshirt junior Spencer Shannon in the passing game — which is to say, any value at all after Shannon played 207 snaps and didn’t receive a single target.
Expect the Longhorns to target another tight end in the portal to serve as a proven receiving threat.
