Texas Longhorns Spring Football Depth Chart: Fresh Blood at Tight End

The Longhorns are looking for new starters to replace Cade Brewer and Jared Wiley in 2022

The Texas Longhorns face a wide-open competition at tight end heading into their 2022 spring football workouts.

Texas lost its most productive tight end, Cade Brewer, to eligibility. The senior, who is set to play in the Hula Bowl, caught 18 passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

Jared Wiley caught seven passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Wiley started several games as a second blocking tight end. But, after the season, he submitted for the transfer portal and quickly committed to TCU.

So, the Longhorns will have a new starting tight end when the season opens in September. But Texas has to figure out who they are first, and most of the candidates are young, but have upside.

For now, we’ll look at what the Longhorns have, knowing there’s a chance Texas could add a tight end through the transfer portal. Plus, whoever wins the job could be catching passes from a new quarterback. 

Stick with Longhornscountry.com as we break down the Longhorns’ spring football depth chart outlook.

TE1 Ja’Tavion Sanders

Anyone that saw Sanders play at Ryan High School in Denton, Texas, knows that he’s, um, a beast. Ryan’s coaching staff used him in multiple ways on both offense and defense, and the 6-foot-4, 256-pound freshman played on special teams in every game this season. The former high school All-American is at tight end because his senior season he caught 63 passes for 1,161 yards and 16 touchdowns. If he’s ready, he could change the complexion of the Texas passing game. No one in the current tight end group has his kind of production ceiling.

TE2 Gunnar Helm

Helm saw most of his time in 2021 on the field goal unit as a blocker. But, the Cherry Creek, Colorado, product, produced in his last year of high school — 28 catches for 367 yards and seven touchdowns. The 6-foot-5, 238-pound rising sophomore was considered a Top 15 tight end nationally by recruiting services.

TE3 Juan Davis

Like Sanders, Davis played multiple positions at Everman High School south of Fort Worth, Texas. He played both quarterback and tight end in high school, and at one time was an all-district quarterback. As a tight end he caught 40 passes for 780 yards and eight touchdowns. At 6-foot-4, 226 pounds, he has the build and the athleticism to push Sanders for playing time in 2022. Unlike Sanders, Davis caught a pass last season, coming against Arkansas.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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