Spring Preview: Oklahoma's TE Rebuild Starts the Second OU Hits the Practice Field
Spring practice will be a crucial first step in Joe Jon Finley’s efforts to rebuild his tight end room.
Oklahoma’s new co-offensive coordinator struggled to get any production from his group a year ago, spurring an offseason overhaul.
Austin Stogner graduated, and Blake Smith and Jason Llewellyn both departed via the transfer portal, meaning the Sooners would need plenty of new bodies.
The first answer came in the form of highly touted recruit Davon Mitchell, who reclassified to join the 2024 class to help OU this year.
A 6-foot-4, 245-pound monster, Mitchell should be able to hold up to the physicality of the Southeastern Conference, but spring practice will be crucial in getting up to speed with Seth Littrell’s playbook.
One of Mitchell’s new teammates should be an essential resource throughout his first collegiate practices.
The Sooners landed a local product in veteran Baylor transfer Jake Roberts. A Norman North High School graduate, Roberts first started his career with Littrell at North Texas. He worked well in a tight end rotation for the Mean Green, as he caught 28 passes for 394 yards and three scores in 2022 while teammate Var’keyes Gumms hauled in five touchdowns and ended the year with 458 yards on 34 grabs.
After Littrell was dismissed in Denton, Roberts moved on and transferred to Baylor. His experience with the Bears means Roberts won’t need the spring period to get up to speed with Power 5 football, so he should be able to focus his efforts on getting stronger and helping his teammates digest the playbook between the start of practice and April’s Red/White Game.
Jake Roberts has a season of Big 12 football under his belt after a productive stint at North Texas.
Chris Jones / USA TODAY Sports
Along with Mitchell, Roberts will be surrounded by plenty more youth.
Kade McIntyre flashed some early potential as a true freshman in 2023, but in the end he only caught a single pass for 26 yards. He battled through some injuries a year ago, but should be fresh headed into 2024.
With another year in the system and another cycle of winter conditioning to help him develop physically, McIntyre will be able to not only battle with Mitchell and Roberts, but show Finley that no matter how the tight end rotation shakes out next fall, he can be called upon to add depth that was missing a year ago.
OU also has a pair of tight ends who will desperately need to perform well in spring practice to get up and running before competing for snaps in fall camp.
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Bauer Sharp arrived in Norman as a transfer from Southeastern Louisiana.
The converted quarterback played tight end the last two years, but he’ll need those developmental snaps this spring to adjust to the size and speed of Oklahoma’s defenders before taking the field in the SEC.
Alongside Sharp, Kaden Helms hopes to finally get back on track. Helms has had terrible injury luck early in his OU career, as he was unable to even hit the practice field a year ago.
Staying healthy will be the No. 1 priority for Helms, but he needs a strong spring to build his confidence back heading into the summer and fall after being held out of any contact drills for a majority of the past 18 months.
Building depth in a room devoid of impact players in 2023 won’t happen overnight, and Finley will surely be spending plenty of time developing his own position group from the very first practice this spring.
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