We continue our position preview today by turning our attention to the tight ends.
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Tight end is a position that saw much more attention in the passing game under first year head coach Hugh Freeze in 2019. The unit combined for 26 receptions for 294 yards and 7 touchdowns this past season. Compare that to the 2017 and 2018 teams who combined for 25 receptions for 323 yards and 1 touchdown. Expect the increase in touches to continue for this group again in 2020.
Liberty will have to replace the loss of Roanoke native Zac Foutz who played in 41 games in his collegiate career, including 25 starts. He finished with 8 receptions for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns during his senior season.
Returning
Expect Johnny Huntley to have a breakout campaign in 2020, his redshirt-senior season. The former Colorado wide receiver transferred to Liberty under former head coach Turner Gill and has since moved from wide out to tight end as Coach Freeze came in. Last season, his first season on the field for the Flames, Huntley had 11 receptions for 196 yards and 1 touchdown. His lone score came on a 57-yard catch and run in the Cure Bowl, the first score of the game to give the Flames the early 7-0 lead.
Chris Barrett is another 5th year senior in the group. He has played in 21 games over the past two seasons at Liberty after coming in as a JUCO transfer. He had 2 receptions for 10 yards last season, but Barrett can be expected to get more snaps in 2020.
Jerome Jackson is suddenly a redshirt-junior and one of the veterans of the room. In 2019, he had 3 receptions for 15 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Michael Bollinger began his career at Liberty as a fullback before switching to tight end in Freeze’s system. He had just 1 catch for 19 yards and a touchdown, against Buffalo, before suffering a broken leg against the Bulls. Another redshirt-junior, Bollinger was leaned upon in short yardage packages before his injury.
Mason Yost is a redshirt-sophomore who saw limited playing time in 2019.
JT Wood has been moved to tight end after starting his career at wide receiver. He’s a redshirt-sophomore.
Shane Drayton also returns for the Flames.
Newcomers
Trevor Hobbs was a late addition to the December class who was a mid-year enrollee. The 6’4″, 245 pound athlete was rated as the top tight end in JUCO football by Rivals’ JC Gridiron. He played for Golden West College the past two seasons, and he hauled in 25 receptions for 456 yards, and 4 touchdowns in 10 games in 2019.
Outlook
Liberty’s tight ends are a very veteran group with the top 5 on the depth chart all upperclassmen (Huntley, Barrett, Jackson, Bollinger, Hobbs). This is another position where the increased depth and scholarships at the FBS level have come in handy as the tight ends have a lot of depth and experience.
Look for increased production out of this group, even from what the unit did in 2019. With a mobile quarterback like Malik Willis likely starting at QB, the checkdown to the tight end can become very valuable.
