Juco TE Thomas Decommits

We've had a run of nightmarishly-bad TE recruiting.

2013: Swaim is a blocker but nothing more.
2012: None
2011: McFarland can't get on the field. I'm not sure why Onyegbule remains on the roster, considering his injury issues.
2010: Daniels isn't exactly all-conference material, nor was he recruited for the position.
2009: Funny that a class with 3 TEs (Matthews, Jones, Graham) basically churned out a handful of plays over the years. Matthews looked like he could be the next big thing in that one OU game. Then he dropped every pass thrown his way for the next 2 years.

Good gravy. You'd think that Major, understanding what TEs can accomplish from his days with Jones, Scaife, etc., would appreciate pulling a few big dudes in to compete for a TE job. Yet another reason to believe that an unpaid intern could do Bruce Chambers' job.
 
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Sounds like no go on the academics with the player and his advisors covering by the TE position change BS. Every recruited player faces the prospect of failure at the recruited position and a switch.
 
Swaim was touted for his blocking skills as a recruit and has done a very good job of that. He seems agile enough on the field to be a decent receiver but I have no clue if he has good hands or not.

There seems to be few decent TEs coming out of HS due to the use of spread offenses especially in Texas. Still ought to be able to field a pass catching threat that would offer one more weapon to the passing attack. Opponents don't have to worry about a TE down the middle at all with UT. McFarland showed a spark of that last year but nothing this year.
 
But the problem is more likely to be the lack of pass catching TEs that WANT to play for Texas based on the use of TE's since J Finlay left after the 2007 season.

Of course, there was Blaine Irby whose career was ruined by a nasty knee injury. He had the skills but was unavailable for most of his career due to injury.

The last best chance at a receiving TE was Durham Smythe who decommitted from Texas to go to ND for the 2013 season.
 
Look at Amaro from Tech. You don't have to "recruit" a TE, you just have to be able to turn a pass-catching kid with a huge frame into one. We can't seem to recruit TEs or turn pass-catchers into one.

DJ Grant was a good candidate for that, and he performed fairly well over his tenure at Texas. Not as well as he probably could have done if our offense keyed in on TEs more, and his years didn't overlap coaching changes. Darius Terrell was another great option to switch to TE, but he left before he could achieve anything at the position.

I think when we're limited at QB with McCoy, and to a lesser extent Ash, using a TE on play action could be our bread and butter play, but we just don't have the personnel or know-how to accomplish this.
 
Tight ends need to be able to block first, catch second. If all the guy can do is run routes and catch the ball, why even put him at tight end? Swaim's blocking this season has been a huge boost for the offense, especially considering the line is not stellar.

In my opinion, if you fail to sign a tight end that can block and catch, then you should sign one who can block over one who can catch. I would think it is easier to teach someone to catch a football than it is to block a 280 pound DE.
 
What Chango said. While I credit Swaim and Daniels with helping on a lot of the running game, I still think we'd be a bigger threat if we had a passing game to the TE. The majority of NFL HOF TE's weren't exactly known solely for their blocking skills. If anyone truly believes that all we need to do is find more Swaims and Danielses for our line, it's delusional. I'll take a Seferian-Jenkins or Ebron any day of the week, no matter how ****** their blocking is/was.
 
Obviously, it would be a huge boost to the offense if we had a dual threat tight end. However, we don't. That said, I'd rather have a blocking tight end over a receiving tight end. If a guy can catch the ball, but can't block to save his life, why not just line him up at receiver?
 
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