With the start of the 2023 college football season rapidly approaching, we look to continue our position preview series. We have already covered quarterbacks, running backs, defensive line, and plenty of others. Now, we provide our WVU 2023 tight end preview.
WVU 2023 Tight End Preview
Another year, another time we ask the question: will the West Virginia Mountaineers finally utilize the tight end position with any regularity? In the four seasons since head coach Neal Brown arrived in Morgantown, the Mountaineers’ tight ends have caught 59 passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns, in total. On average, the tight ends have accounted for 15 receptions for 114 yards and half a touchdown per season. In short, the offense has not often featured pass-catching tight ends, even though they run 12 personnel sets regularly.
We have noticed, however, that WVU continues to add multiple tight ends per class, both through prep recruiting and the transfer portal. This past offseason continued the trend. Indeed, West Virginia added LSU transfer Kole Taylor and a pair of true freshmen in TJ Johnson and Noah Braham. Add those to the returnees, Treylan Davis, Victor Wikstrom, and Will Dixon, and the Mountaineers have six tight ends on scholarship heading into the 2023 season.
Given that volume, we certainly hope they plan to utilize the position more frequently. If they do, here’s how they might benefit.
The First Two
The Mountaineers highlight two tight ends who will likely feature heavily in the offense in different ways. First, they have sophomore Davis. Of the position group, Davis is the only returnee with contributions in the offensive stats columns. Last season, he caught five passes for 51 yards. Davis, however, offers the group a solid blocking tight end. Fortunately, his snap count is piling up as he played in 16 total games over the last two seasons. This allows him to offer a steadying presence to the position group.
Taylor, on the other hand, offers the team a versatile pass-catching weapon. Lined up with other skill position players, Taylor is noticeable. He stands at six feet, seven inches, weighing 250 pounds. He can block when needed, but he ran a sub-five 40-yard dash in his junior season of high school, and he’s undoubtedly added speed since. This makes him an ideal pass catcher. Simply, he’s a big target, with enough size to win contested balls over the middle and enough awareness and speed to take a seam route 15 yards.
The question remains: will the staff use their weapons? If pre-season talk means anything, the staff certainly utters Taylor’s name enough to make us believe they plan to use him plenty.
The Depth (and a Possible Surprise)
First, we start with a possible surprise. After all, our WVU 2023 tight end preview would be incomplete without mentioning one of our favorite European additions to the roster in Wikstrom. Now, Wikstrom came to Morgantown raw, as American football yields little attention in Europe. That said, Wikstrom enters his third year in Morgantown, and he certainly looks the part of an able-bodied receiving threat out of the position. We understand his blocking could use work, but we would not be surprised to see him in his first extended action at some point this season.
That leaves Dixon, a redshirt freshman, Johnson, and Braham as the remaining depth pieces in the room. We anticipate they would contribute, if at all, on special teams in the early parts of their careers, but Dixon and Braham certainly showed significant blocking prowess at the high school level. If they translate those skills to the Power Five (Four?) level, they could contribute in short-yard packages as extra blockers.
Photo courtesy: Oklahoman-USA TODAY Sports
