Cal Football: Oregon State Tight End J.T. Byrne Set to Join the Bears

Carmel native should get the chance to play after the exit of two sophomore TEs.

Cal got a commitment Thursday from tight end end J.T. Byrne, a native of Carmel, California, who spent his first two college seasons at Oregon State.

Byrne announced his move on social media:

Byrne red-shirted and did not play as a true freshman in 2021. He played in nine games this past season for the Beavers, who posted a 10-3 record, but had no statistics.

At 6-foot-5, 247 pounds, Byrne was rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports at Carmel High School. The recruiting site listed him among the top 75 players in the state of California and one of the top 50 tight end prospects in the country.

Rivals rated Byrne as a 2-star prospect and reported Oregon State as the only Pac-12 school that offered him a scholarship out of high school. Other programs interested included Army, Cornell, San Diego State and San Jose State.

Byrne will get opportunity to play for the Bears, who have lost sophomore tight ends Jermaine Terry II and Keleki Latu to the transfer portal since the end of the season. The Bears added tight end Ben Marshall, a 6-foot-4 high school prospect from Murfreesboro, Tenn., in their early signing class.

During his high school days, Byrne saw action at defensive end, quarterback, linebacker and wide receiver, along with tight end. As a junior, he caught 48 passes for 636 yards and six touchdowns, and also passed for 560 yards and six TDs, rushed for 268 yards, and had 7.5 sacks and forced four fumbles.

He was selected to the Monterey County All-Decade Team.

According to his Oregon State online biography, Byrne played baseball and basketball in high school, earning league MVP honors in the latter while leading the conference in scoring three times.

Cover photo of J.T. Byrne by Mark J. Rebilias, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo