How Oklahoma Transfer TE Rocky Beers’ Age, Experience Will Benefit Sooners Offense

NORMAN — John Mateer has plenty of new weapons at his disposal heading into his second year as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback.

One of them is tight end Rocky Beers: a married, 24-year-old soon-to-be father.

Mateer’s first impression of Beers?

“Rocky? he’s kind of old,” Mateer said in March.

While Mateer made that remark in jest, he wasn’t exactly wrong.

Beers is entering his sixth college football season. He began his collegiate career at Air Force and spent two years in Colorado Springs before transferring to Florida International. Beers played two seasons at FIU before spending his 2025 campaign at Colorado State.

The transfer tight end is the “old guy” in a position group that has a wide age range.

The Sooners signed two tight ends — Tyler Ruxer and Ryder Mix — as part of their 2026 recruiting class, and they also landed Jack Van Dorselaer, a true freshman at Tennessee in 2025, from the transfer portal. Hayden Hansen, a transfer from Florida, is the closest in age to Beers, as he played three seasons for the Gators — but the five years under Beers’ belt far outweigh anybody else in the tight end room.

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While older, Beers didn’t bring a superiority complex with him to Norman. Instead, he has quickly been a constructive leader within OU’s locker room.

“He’s a great dude,” Mateer said. “Knows football… being around him is fun and he’s a good football player.”

Beers was part of a Colorado State team that struggled mightily last year. The Rams went 2-10 and won only one game during Mountain West play.

Though his team limped through the season, Beers had a stellar season individually. He led the Rams in both receiving yards (388) and receiving touchdowns (seven). Beers caught a season-high two touchdown passes in CSU’s 49-21 rout of Fresno State, the team’s only conference victory.

Oklahoma badly needs more production from its tight ends in 2026. Even though converted linebacker Jaren Kanak caught 44 passes for 533 yards last year, he didn’t score a touchdown. Kaden Helms was the only tight end to log a touchdown in 2025, and that came in OU’s stomping of Kent State.

Beers has proven experience catching touchdown passes in the red zone, and the 6-5, 235-pound tight end could be exactly what the Sooners need to get more out of the position group.

“One area that I never have to really worry about is I feel like I'm a pretty decent catcher,” Beers said in March. “I can trust my hands.”

Beers, even as a sixth-year college football player, knows there’s still room for him to improve, and he noted his blocking abilities and his frame as two areas in which he can further develop.

Beers’ situation and ability to play in 2026 is something that would’ve been unheard of before the transfer portal and the COVID-19 pandemic.

But it’s an opportunity that he’s been granted, and he knows that his wisdom can be valuable to his younger teammates.

“People call me ‘unc’ and ‘gramps’ around here,” Beers said. “It’s pretty ridiculous if you think about it, going into year (six) in college. But I’m going to take advantage of it.”

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