Oklahoma Transfer TE Jack Van Dorselaer Sees Value in Last Year’s Growing Pains

NORMAN — Jack Van Dorselaer will be the first to admit that his first season of college football wasn’t perfect.

Van Dorselaer, a tight end who transferred to Oklahoma in January, played all 13 of Tennessee’s games in 2025 as a true freshman. He appeared on 186 snaps as a first-year college player and ended the season with a middling 47.4 Pro Football Focus (PFF) overall offensive grade.

The tight end logged only five catches for 23 yards and a touchdown. He was targeted two other times, and one of them was a costly drop on fourth down in the fourth quarter of Tennessee’s 33-27 loss to Oklahoma.

Van Dorselaer, though, sees these growing pains as beneficial to his development.

“I had the opportunity to be put in some situations last year that didn't all go my way,” Van Dorselaer said in March. “I think it's good to kind of face that adversity. So now when I come in as a sophomore, I know how to handle it.”

Van Dorselaer is one of three tight ends who transferred to Oklahoma after the 2025 season, along with Hayden Hansen (Florida) and Rocky Beers (Colorado State). Beers is entering his sixth season of college football after his stops at CSU, Florida International and Air Force, while Hansen played 1,827 snaps over three seasons at Florida.

Though Van Dorselaer’s experience isn’t as expansive as his fellow transfer tight ends, Jim Nagy believes that playing a full season at an SEC program will help him adjust quickly to the Sooners’ offense.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

“Jack Van Dorselaer, there’s a guy that’s got a really high ceiling,” Nagy said. “Played a lot in the SEC.”

Van Dorselaer admitted the jump from playing at high school stadiums to playing at large SEC venues — some with over 100,000 seats — was a challenging one.

He will have to do so again in 2025, as the Sooners battle Michigan at Michigan Stadium, college football’s largest stadium, on the road in Week 2. But he feels more prepared for that challenge — as well as OU’s other road games against Georgia, Mississippi State and Missouri — than he did a year ago.

“Playing in those atmospheres is crazy,” Van Dorselaer said. “I feel like that really helps me for this season. Now I'm not nervous to play in front of all those people.”

Listed at 6-4 and 240 pounds, Van Dorselaer was a consensus 4-star prospect while playing at Southlake Carroll High School in Texas.

Because of his impressive frame, Tennessee used him often as a blocker last year. Of Van Dorselaer’s 186 offensive snaps in 2025, 113 of them came in run-blocking situations.

He finished the season with a 44.6 PFF run-blocking grade, which is considered below average. Van Dorselaer said that his Year 1 experience will allow him to be significantly better in that area in 2026.

But Van Dorselaer wants to be more than just a big guy who blocks.

As soon as new tight ends coach Jason Witten arrived in Norman, he stressed the importance of versatility — being able to catch, run block and pass block — to Van Dorselaer and his fellow tight ends.

When Van Dorselaer entered the transfer portal, he was looking for a program where he could develop in several different areas — and Oklahoma fit that description.

“I feel like I have the ability to do everything, not just run block, not just pass catch, but to do everything,” Van Dorselaer said. “I think that's really important in a tight end nowadays because a lot of time tight ends just want to catch and not block.”

OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle also sees Van Dorselaer as a “hybrid guy,” the tight end said.

Just a few months into his time in Norman, Van Dorselaer believes that OU’s staff — particularly Witten — will allow him to reach his full potential as a versatile tight end.

“I feel like you have to do everything to be a great tight end,” Van Dorselaer said. “I think coach (Witten) offers that coaching to really help me develop in the pass game.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google