Transfer Talk: What Oklahoma is Getting in TE Will Huggins

Oklahoma is starting over on offense in 2024, and the Sooners have some holes to plug on defense and special teams as well.

So Brent Venables and the OU staff landed another impactful haul out of the NCAA Transfer Portal for 2025 — 14 players so far, with the possibility of more still to come.

This series begins Sooners On SI’s inside look at what OU is getting out of the portal for next season. Next up: tight end Will Huggins.

Will Huggins had to adjust to life on the Division II level. Now he’s having to adjust to life at Oklahoma.

Huggins is a tight end who began his college football career at the University of Kansas. But after four seasons of not playing much for the Jayhawks, Huggins decided to spend the 2024 season at D2 Pittsburg State.

“Just a pretty easy-going guy,” said Eddie Lomshek, long-time voice of the Gorillas. “But I think his deal was he wasn't going to come in and try and take over, because he'd been a D1 player or anything like that. He’s just good athlete, good player for our level. Which was good to see. Some guys want to come in and big dog it a little bit if they transfer down. And, you know, they can get humbled at our level. (The MIAA) is a really good Division II league — and you find that out. But I thought he came in with the right mindset.”

Coming out of Shawnee Mission South High School in Overland Park, KS, in the freshman class of 2020, the 6-foot-7, now 250-pound Huggins drew interest from Kansas State, Iowa State, Arkansas and Kansas among FBS schools, but only KU offered a football scholarship. He caught 26 passes for 436 yards and three touchdowns, and was a 3-star prospect as rated by 247 Sports, the No. 41 tight end in the nation and the No. 1,043 overall prospect according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

But for whatever reason, Huggins never really caught on at KU. According to Pro Football Focus, Huggins played just 29 offensive snaps as a true freshman in 2020, then watched his playing time dwindle to 8 snaps in 2021, 5 snaps in 2022 and 18 snaps his senior year in 2023.

In all, he played in 11 games for the Jayhawks. His only career reception came in 2020, when Les Miles was still the head coach, and it went for a 20-yard touchdown.

“He was what you'd probably call a program depth guy, organizational depth,” Lomshek said. “I don't have any doubt he could contribute for them. Sometimes you get caught in a numbers game for whatever reason, and maybe a guy one year ahead of him had kind of had the nose or the edge on playing time, and so he ended up, you know, looking elsewhere.”

So last year, Huggins hit the reset button, entered the transfer portal and ended up at Pitt State, a D2 powerhouse in the southeastern corner of Kansas not far from the Oklahoma border. His high school quarterback and best friend, Jack Roberts, was on the roster as a Gorillas wide receiver, so it was a good comfort fit for Huggins.

The sense around Pittsburg was that they were getting a big-time talent out of Lawrence.

“Yeah, I think that was the sense of a lot of people,” said Jim Henry, sports editor at the Pittsburg Morning Sun. “I know it was for me, because they said, ‘Well, we got this tight end coming from KU, and you think, ‘Wow,’ but then you find out he only played 11 games in four years at KU, you know? But no, I think there was a sense there. And he put up good numbers.”

MORE TRANSFER TALK

QB John Mateer
WR Isaiah Sategna
WR Javonnie Gibson
P Jacob Ulrich

DE Marvin Jones Jr.

TE Carson Kent

PK Austin Welch
LB Kendal Daniels
TE Will Huggins

That was after a coaching change under first-year coach Tom Anthony and his staff. Under the previous regime, Devon Garrison received D2 All-America accolades as a Gorillas tight end in 2022 and 2023, catching 35 passes for 614 yards and seven touchdowns in ’22, and 53 for 855 and six TDs in ’23.

“He was more involved as a blocker than the previous tight end,” Henry told Sooners On SI. “ … But, yeah, it was an adjustment for him to come down here, yeah, for sure.”

So even though his numbers were down as the new staff used the tight end a little less, Huggins didn’t disappoint Gorilla fans in his one season at Pitt State, finally enjoying a breakout season with 22 catches for 395 yards (both fourth on the team) and a touchdown. He averaged 18 yards per reception, proving to be a downfield threat and a significant matchup problem for D2 defenses.

“Will might have had more statistics, but he was a guy they talked about from day one,” Lomshek told Sooners On SI. “Because he came in last January, so he was here for the spring semester, and then you kind of get a better fit and feel for him. As opposed to some guys that come in over the summer, and then they're only here in the fall, so yeah, he came in and coaches were really high on him from the beginning, for just his work ethic and his makeup, and then also the, just, kind of the ability, certainly the ability. He's got the one thing you can't teach and coach, and that’s size. And for our level, he was a nice player.”

Four years at Kansas gave Huggins access to big time resources — and big-time expectations. That may have been another reason why he transitioned so well to his new setting last year — a smaller locker room and a smaller stadium with fewer amenities and fewer fans. As a fifth-year senior, Huggins naturally took on a larger leadership role last season without being overbearing.

“I don't think he was afraid to speak up and be a rah-rah guy,” Lomshek said. “I know he ended up being roommates with a couple of our really good players that were team captains that were also older guys. And so I think he fit in. I think he fit in really well with those guys as far as just the culture that you want, those types of things. And so, like I said, I don't think he was afraid to speak up. But I don't think he tried to come in and take over either. He just kind of kept his nose down and worked hard. And, you know, I think he had his teammates’ respect for that.”

When Huggins first decided to leave Pitt State and re-enter the transfer portal on Dec. 2, his first choice was Washington State. On Dec. 12, the school even announced it had signed Huggins. But also on Dec. 2, Brent Venables hired Cougars offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, and on Dec. 9, WSU quarterback John Mateer bounced from Pullman to Norman.

Huggins announced he was putting his name back in the portal on Dec. 20, and minutes later, he announced that OU had offered him a scholarship. Eight days later, Huggins committed to the Sooners.

MORE WILL HUGGINS

Sooners Land Pitt State TE Will Huggins

Oklahoma is rebuilding its tight end room for the third straight season. FCS transfer Bauer Sharp led the Sooners in receptions last year with 42 catches but only averaged 7.7 yards per catch. Baylor transfer Jake Roberts had 12 catches and averaged 9.3 yards as a senior. Combined, they accounted for four touchdown receptions.

OU’s tight ends in 2025 are an unknown quantity. Junior Kaden Helms is back, but he hasn’t played substantial snaps yet. Same for sophomore Kade McIntyre. And former 5-star recruit Devon Mitchell spent his entire true freshman season logging exactly zero snaps. Former Michigan State transfer Hampton Fay is a senior walk-on.

So OU landed Huggins and Kennesaw State’s Carson Kent from the transfer portal this offseason. Huggins would seem to have as much chance as anyone to impact the position for the Sooners in 2025.

“Tight ends, of course, in any offense, are asked to do a lot,” Lomshek said. “You know, they're kind of an extension of the offensive line, as far as blockers, and then they have to spend time knowing the route tree and the route menu and making sure they're ready to go as pass catchers. And so I know in our offense, it's like a lot of them today, they ask the tight ends to do a lot. And one thing where Will was a weapon was (short-yardage situations). Not that he had a bunch of touchdowns, but short yardage/red zone. I know they had some stuff; may not have gotten to him all the time. But still, they just like this size, having a guy he could throw it up to. So they tried to utilize him with that.

“But he also made a couple of nice catches down the field where they really, really showed off his ball skills. I guess I would say, one-handed catch, over-the-shoulder catch. A couple of those really stand out, where he was athletic enough to stretch the field, depending on the matchup, and then skilled enough to adjust to the ball in the air and make sure he caught it.”

Combining size with good hands, a downfield presence and a willingness to block means Oklahoma might be productive at the tight end spot this season.

Huggins seems to have other traits that will serve him and the Sooners well.

“I don't think there's any question about his work ethic at all,” Henry said. “He's a big-time worker.”