Utah TE Brant Kuithe NOT named on Mackey Award preseason list

Each year in December and after the college football's regular season has wrapped up, the Mackey Award is presented to the nation's top tight end. But prior to any of that and before the season ever gets underway, the selection committee comes out with a list in July naming those who are on the preseason watch list.

While a player can be added to the list later in the season, the watch list does a good job of establishing who some of the top players are in the country and who to keep an eye out for the upcoming year.

Well it's safe to safe that the selection committee whom put out this year's preseason watch list for the award left off one MAJOR name; Utah tight end Brant Kuithe.

Kuithe has already been named a preseason All-American by Pick Six Previews and a preseason first-team all-Pac-12 member by Athlon Sports and Phil Steele.

Basically, very few outside of the Pac-12 believe that there is a better tight end in the conference other than Kuithe. Yet he wasn't named to the Mackey Award preseason watch list, while Oregon's Hunter Kampmoyer, Washington's Cade Otton, Stanford's Tucker Fisk and Arizona's Curtis Hodges were all named.

Kuithe finished last season by earning all-Pac-12 second team honors — totaling 34 catches for 602 yards and six touchdowns, while adding another 102 yards rushing on six attempts and three more scores on the season. Hunter Bryant of Washington, who is now signed with the Detroit Lions, earned first-team honors last year.

He had two major breakout games this past season — against UCLA when he caught five passes for 132 yards and a score — and against Colorado when he caught three passes for 63 yards and two scores while adding two rushes for 59 yards and a touchdown. Look for the 6-foot-2, 235-pound junior to really breakout this season and potentially earn all-American recognition if things go accordingly.

"He’s just a tremendous athlete and it’s not anything we scripted differently other than he just happened to shake free more often than he had in the past," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the UCLA game last season. "He has been playing really great football for us all year long, but he’s a tremendous weapon. He’s a tough match-up. ... He’s only a sophomore too."

He's a matchup nightmare for opponents as he's too big for safeties and cornerbacks, yet too athletic for linebackers. Kuithe reminds me of San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, who like Kuithe really made a name for himself this past season.

“I don’t know if teams really know how to account for him because he can’t be covered by a linebacker and even safeties struggle with him,” Whittingham said. “One of the strengths of Andy (Ludwig, Utah offensive coordinator) is he puts guys in position to maximize their ability and what they do best. He’s certainly done that with Brant Kuithe.”

Kuithe's emergence has been huge for the Utes as for most of last season, something was missing from the offense.

When Utah's receivers, with lack of a true star, struggle to get open against man coverage, and teams load the box to contain Zack Moss, who can make a play for the Utes? Who does Tyler Huntley and Whittingham trust enough to win a one-on-one battle along the sideline? Who do they trust enough to go through traffic and make the catch to keep a drive alive?

That answer eluded Utah for the first half of last season, until Kuithe thrived and took over as a staple in the offense.

With a new quarterback and running back taking over on offense, Kuithe will be relied on more than ever to be more than just a staple — and if any of the preseason recognition is any indication of what's to come, Kuithe is more than ready for the job.

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