Wednesday, June 06, 2007

2007 Position Previews: Tight Ends

This is the first part of my position by position breakdown of the 2007 roster.


TIGHT ENDS

BC is loaded with talent at some positions. Others are thin. Somewhere in between are the Tight Ends. While never the focal point of the Bible offense, Tight Ends did play an important role. They were responsible for taking up the intermediate space over the middle on pass routes and asked to block on running plays. When I started watching the games back in 2005, I realized that the blocking miscues of our Tight Ends were creating a fair amount of trouble for our running game.

Overview

When Jags was the OC in 1997 and 1998, he worked multiple Tight Ends into our offense. That was partially a product of the leftover depth from the Henning era. I don’t know how he and Logan will use the Tight End this season. The season by season cumulative stats from Logan’s time at East Carolina are unavailable, as are the cums from Jags’ last go around with BC [college football is desperately in need of better historic data and statistical sources]. A small glimpse into what Jags did last year with Green Bay shows that Packers TEs caught just 16% of Farve’s passes and only 11% of the TD receptions. Going back through what was available on ECU, Logan’s most prolific TE came early in his time with the Pirates. That tells me that as he got more talent and his own players he deemphasized the position.

The Players
Ryan Purvis, JR, 6’4, 260lbs
Ryan Thompson, SR, 6’4 259lbs
Trey Koziol, JR, 6’4, 255lbs
Jordon McMichael, FR, 6’5, 244 lbs
Jon Loyte, SR, 6’5, 271 lbs

While Thompson started most games, Purvis led the interchangeable “Ryans” with 29 catches. Neither is a great blocker (although I would give Purvis the edge there too). Loyte and McMichael were the big disappointments for entirely different reasons. McMichael was a premiere recruit whose August injury kept him out for the whole season. Loyte was a the transfer expected to make a big impact. He played all season and played well enough but still only caught six passes. Koziol’s been sort of the forgotten man. Injuries have kept him out of action for most of his BC career.

Outlook
I think all five guys will play this year. Expect each to get a dozen or so catches. McMichael still has plenty of upside but unless he is head and shoulders above everyone else, I think he’ll split playing time. It is a solid cast but I don’t think they will change any games (nor be asked to).

4 comments:

Melman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melman said...

I'm pretty sure Trey is done because of injuries. BC is now doen to 4 TEs. Also, I think Purvis will have a breakout year under Jags and logan.

ATL_eagle said...

Good call Melman. Koziol is listed on the roster but not mentioned in the Spring Media Guide. He has eligibility. We'll see what happens.

big guy said...

Loyte only had 6 catches but they only threw to him 7times! If you have watched the te blocking since 2005 you would notice that loyte was the most complete blocker and very rarely missed! He should have been on the field a lot more and Bible told me he is the most complete tight end in 15 years and should thrive under Jags!!