Tulsa Football Preview: Tight Ends

In the Tulsa offense, the tight end position has been critical to the success of the offense and in 2020 that spot has six players vying for playing time

"We've got good numbers at the tight end spot and they're all pretty young. Those guys are battling right now. They have good camaraderie within their positional group and they're very unselfish. They want the group as a whole to do really well," said Tulsa Head Coach Philip Montgomery. "They know how important they are to what we do."

Returning starter James Palmer (6-3, 249) showed great potential as an eight-game starter his redshirt freshman season a year ago. Palmer caught four passes for 81 yards and a 20.2 average per reception.

James Palmer runs after reception — James Palmer

Junior letterman Abe Anderson (6-3, 253) saw playing time in a reserve role and showed significant progress.

"We had some productivity from our tight ends last year and we're looking for continued growth this season. We have some guys back and we added some talent to the position as well. Those guys just continue to grow, building off of what they did last year and they continue to get better," said Montgomery. "We're trying to make sure we're using them in the right way."

Ethan Hall (6-3, 240), a redshirt freshman from local Bixby High School, played in the final four games as a true freshman. His only reception went for a 39-yard touchdown in the season finale at ECU.

Two of three newcomers at the tight end position are transfers, including Jacob Kainer (6-4, 247), from Tyler Junior College, and Grayson Boomer (6-4, 260) from Oklahoma State. The third newcomer is rookie Bayne Tryon (6-3, 220). Boomer will miss the 2020 season recovering from a knee injury.

Kainer, who caught 25 passes for 400 yards in his two JUCO seasons, was an NJCAA second-team All-American in 2019. Freshman redshirt walk-on JD Crowder (6-4, 233) provides additional depth for the Hurricane tight ends.

Tulsa Football Preview: Tight Ends

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Players Mentioned

Abe Anderson

Grayson Boomer

JD Crowder

Ethan Hall

Jacob Kainer

James Palmer

Bayne Tryon

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