Scouting Combine Tight Ends: Kmet and Son of Legend

Part 1 of our two-part series on the 20 tight ends includes Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet, Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins, Washington’s Hunter Bryant, FAU’s Harrison Bryant and the son of a Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Part 1 of our two-part series on the 20 tight ends includes Notre Dame’s Cole Kmet, Purdue’s Brycen Hopkins, Washington’s Hunter Bryant, FAU’s Harrison Bryant and the son of a Pro Football Hall of Famer. (Underclassmen are marked with an asterisk.)

Devin Asiasi, UCLA* (6-3, 260): Asiasi replaced record-setting Caleb Wilson and had a career season with 44 catches for 641 yards, including a monster game of 141 yards vs. USC and 13 receptions of 20-plus yards.

He started his career at Michigan with two catches in 2016, had to sit out 2017 due to NCAA transfer rules and watched Wilson (and served a three-game suspension) in 2018. “It’s been a long time coming,” Asiasi said before the season. “But for sure I’m just looking forward to getting out there with my teammates and going out there and winning.” Asiasi is of Samoan and Tongan descent. “I’ll be the first one in my family to go to college,” Asiasi said. “That’s my inspiration. That’s what drives me every morning. Every time I see my cousins, they’ll say, ‘You’re the one.’ They say I’ll be the one to show that you can do way more than what’s being done. … I’m all about family. I don’t want my last name to be put to shame. I’ve got to hold my family’s name up high and show we can do a lot. With me doing [football] and going as far as I can with it, I know it’ll help me out and help my family out.”

Jacob Breeland, Oregon (6-5, 250): Breeland set career highs with 26 receptions for 405 yards and six touchdowns despite playing only six games as a senior because of a season-ending knee injury. He thrived with top quarterback Justin Herbert slinging passes and several passing-game weapons out with injuries. “When you’ve got an NFL quarterback playing as your quarterback, it’s pretty nice. I just run up the hash, honestly, and he throws a perfect ball every time. I just catch it and run.”

On 74 career catches, he averaged a robust 16.6 yards per catch. “We’re looking at a guy that has legitimate speed, that can stretch the field ... he presents some issues for our opponents,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “Jake’s become a really good blocker as well. I know he takes a lot of pride in that. When you keep a guy like that on the field, you could have him as part of the core, you can detach him and put him on the perimeter, as well as a receiver or as a blocker. Now your flexibility as an offense continues to expand. Breeland’s father, Garrett, started at linebacker at USC and was drafted by the Rams in 1986. A week after Jacob Breeland signed with Oregon, Garrett Breeland died of a heart attack. “It was tough because I didn’t get to process it like I wanted because I had to do football and school, so I didn’t have time. … Sometimes I would want to call him and tell him I had a bad day at practice and ask what I should do, ask him for advice because he has been through it,” Breeland said. “It is hard when you can’t do that, but I have good friends and my mom and they help me out tremendously. I’ve got a lot of people on my side.”

Harrison Bryant, Florida Atlantic (6-5, 242): Bryant won the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end after a monster season of 65 receptions for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns. He started his season with six catches for 79 yards vs. powerhouse Ohio State, and six of his touchdowns came in the final four games. Bryant is the first player in the 19-year history of the football program to receive a national individual accolade, and he became the first non-Power Five player to receive the Mackey Award in the award’s 20-year history. In his final three seasons, he caught 142 passes and scored 16 touchdowns.

Originally, Bryant was headed to Samford as a defensive end after posting 11 sacks during his senior year at John Milledge Academy in Macon, Ga. He was an all-state offensive tackle as a junior and an all-state tight end and defensive end as a senior. He chose Samford as a 210-pound, zero-star defensive end. “Once I committed to FAU I got two stars,” Bryant recalled at the Senior Bowl. He had a 3.65 GPA. “I think at the beginning of the season [running backs coach Kevin] Smith used to say to [tight ends coach Clint] Trickett and I to drive him to the Mackey,” offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said. “He drove himself to the Mackey. He did it. When you’ve got a phenomenal player like him or like we had (Devin Singletary) the year before, that’s just the guy you’ve got to get the ball as much as you can and be creative and do different things. That’s what we did with him this season.”

Hunter Bryant, Washington* (6-2, 239): Bryant earned some All-American honors after catching 52 passes for 825 yards and three touchdowns. He had a three-season haul of 85 receptions for 1,394 yards, numbers that ranked second and fourth all-time among Washington tight ends. According to PFF, his 2.90 yards per pass route is tops among tight ends over the last six draft classes.

Bryant missed 13 games due to knee injuries his first two seasons. After missing most of the 2018 season, he came back and had a monster Apple Cup vs. Washington State and a memorable one-handed catch vs. Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. “I just thought it was a regular catch. Going all through high school, I loved catching with one hand ever since Odell (Beckham) did his thing and that went viral. I remember going out to practice in high school and just catching everything with one hand. So, when I made that play, it was just a regular play to me. Everyone was hyped on the sideline, but I was so focused on the game I didn’t even realize it until after.” Bryant has been critiquing his own play since he was 5. Looking back at the player he was as a freshman, he said: “In 2017, he was just raw. I feel like he was just a raw athlete who just loved making plays when the ball was in the air. Now I’m just a lot more calm and relaxed and I can really read defenses more, read defenders. DBs that are covering me, I can read what they’re going to do and kind of react off of them. I’m a lot smarter now.” He grew up playing running back.

Josiah Deguara, Cincinnati (6-3, 240): Deguara caught 38 passes for 468 yards and five touchdowns as a junior and 39 passes for 504 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior. He was first-team all-conference as a senior.

At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds coming out of high school, his only scholarship offers were from Cincinnati and Air Force. Too small? He put up better numbers at Cincinnati than NFL star Travis Kelce. “The NFL has always been a dream of mine, but it hasn’t always felt realistic,” Deguara said. “Even though it’s about to happen for me and I’m about to have that opportunity, it still doesn’t feel real.” He was picked for this year’s Senior Bowl. “I’m not the tallest dude to play tight end, but I’m also not the fastest dude to play receiver,” he said. “But I don’t believe all that stuff. I’ve been able to excel as a tight end at the highest level.” He knows how to catch, dating to his 104 receptions and 16 touchdowns as a junior in high school and 114 receptions and 124 touchdowns as a senior in high school. “I was kind of a hybrid in high school,” Deguara said. “A wide receiver toward the beginning, then a tight end. We had a system out there at my high school where a lot of people get to catch a lot of passes.”

Brycen Hopkins, Purdue (6-5, 245): A full-time starter for the first time as a senior, Hopkins earned some All-American honors and was voted the Big Ten’s Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year. He recorded 61 receptions for 830 yards and seven touchdowns. His reception and yardage totals were the most by a Boilermakers tight end since Dustin Keller had 68 receptions for 881 yards in 2007. “He’s been a playmaker for us,” said quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm, a former Packers draft pick. “He can go get the ball as a great receiving tight end, he can block as well. But we need to get him the ball a couple times each quarter, just to get him in space and let him do some things with his athletic ability because he’s a big-time player.”

Hopkins only played football for two years in high school. It was basketball, however, that got him noticed by recruiters. “He drove the baseline and just ripped the rim off the hinges, almost. I was like, there you go,” former Purdue recruiting coordinator Gerad Parker said. His father, Brad, played football at Illinois and for the Tennessee Titans. “It’s something that I’ve dealt with for a while, and I’d say it’s made me who I am today,” Hopkins said of the football genes. “I say, ‘Any pressure you have, bring it on. I enjoy it.’” According to PFF, he provided a bunch of big plays but dropped too many passes and offered little after the catch.

Dalton Keene, Virginia Tech* (6-4, 251): Keene played in 36 career games, hauling in 59 passes for 748 yards (12.7 average) with eight touchdowns. As a junior, he tied for fourth on the team with 21 receptions (for 240 yards) and was second on the squad with five receiving touchdowns. He also carried the ball 11 times for 33 yards.

A blocker, receiver and runner, Keene models his game after that of the Niners’ George Kittle. “He’s probably the most versatile tight end in the league, and I think he’s the best tight end in the league,” Keene told the Star Exponent. “I try to be able to do everything, and I take a lot of pride in being able to do everything.” Longtime Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster coached Keene’s father, Wes, at Murray State. Foster hosted the Keene family at his lakehouse when Keene was about 5. “Next thing you know, Wes grabs Dalton and kind of flips him up and he spins around and, boy, he belly flops,” Foster told Roanoke.com. “But he no sooner hit that water that he jumped up and he was just screaming bloody murder. And that’s when Stacy, Wes’ wife, I’ve never seen a woman beat a guy so much in my life. But I saw some toughness out of Dalton at that time right there.” He goes by the nickname of “Rambo.” His brother, Trey, played baseball and football at Northern Colorado.

Cole Kmet, Notre Dame* (6-5, 250): Kmet is the latest in a long line of Notre Dame tight ends headed to the NFL. He’s something of a one-year wonder with a junior season of 43 receptions for 515 yards and six touchdowns. He started his season off with a bang with nine catches for 108 yards and one touchdown vs. Georgia – an incredible feat after he returned sooner than expected from a broken collarbone – and he followed that with a four-game touchdown streak. According to Pro Football Focus, he dropped two passes the last two seasons.

He pitched on the baseball team for two seasons. As a sophomore in 2019, he had 27 strikeouts vs. three walks in 18.2 innings before being shut down with a sore elbow. Kmet’s dad, Frank Kmet, was a fourth-round pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1992. An uncle, Jeff Zgonina, played on the defensive line for 17 NFL seasons. He almost gave up football before high school. His shoes are size 16.5 and he has a 40-inch vertical. “Cole can do so many different things,” quarterback Ian Book says. “He’s got crazy skills to catch the ball, run block, pass block.” Kmet was a triple threat in football, baseball and academics. “It’s always been a dream of mine,” Kmet said of playing both sports at the collegiate level. “I never wanted to quit one or the other. I noticed this is the best place for it, seeing other guys have done it in the past … I like being in-season a lot.

Sean McKeon, Michigan (6-5, 246): McKeon was an honorable mention on all-Big Ten team following each of his final three seasons. His four-year totals were 60 receptions for 668 yards and six touchdowns. He caught 13 passes for 235 yards with two touchdowns as a senior.

McKeon played his high school ball at Shepherd Hill in Dudley, Mass. He was coached by Chris Lindstrom, the father of the Falcons guard by the same name. He caught tennis balls with former Michigan tight end Jake Butt to improve his hand-eye coordination. “I wasn’t too great at it at first, but after a little bit, I got a little better,” McKeon told the Michigan Daily. “That helped out a lot and just catching footballs, too. Footballs and tennis balls. It’s all about hand coordination and reaction time.”

Thaddeus Moss, LSU* (6-3, 249): Moss is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss. It was Thaddeus who put the Hall of Fame gold jacket on his father during the induction ceremony. “My father didn’t pressure me when I was growing that I had to play football. If I wanted to be an engineer, I’d be an engineer and he’d be 100 percent behind me. I fell in love with football at an early age, because I loved the physicality of it. But I’ve never felt any pressure to carry the (Moss) name on.”

He is coming off the best statistical season ever for an LSU tight end with 42 receptions for 534 yards. He had a 62-yard touchdown in the playoff win vs. Oklahoma and also scored a touchdown in the championship game vs. Clemson. Moss spent only one season at LSU, having started his career at North Carolina State. He sat out the 2017 season due to NCAA transfer rules and the 2018 season due to foot injuries. In 2016, he caught six passes at NC State. “It was tough,” he said of sitting out 2018. “I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I didn’t really know how to react. I didn’t really know how to look at anything. Looking back at last year, (it) was almost like a fog.” He surprisingly won the starting job during fall camp. “Thaddeus is a great receiver. You’re going to see a lot out of him,” quarterback Joe Burrow said before the season. Almost incredibly, Moss spent time at five high schools. The injuries and the moving all paid off with a national championship. “What I love about him as a coach, as a competitor, is his physical toughness — his willingness to block,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said before the national championship game. “He’s got some real dirtbag to him, which is a great compliment. Very tough-minded. He’s willing to get his nose bloody. He wants to hurt people. He’s attacking people with purpose.”

Introducing the 20 Tight Ends

Part 1: Kmet, Moss and the Bryants

Part 2: Small-school stars Trautman and Taumoepeau, and five SEC standouts

Introducing the 25 Offensive Tackles

Part 1: Becton, D-III stud Bartch and Charles

Part 2: Jones and plenty of NFL DNA

Part 3: The Big Three of Thomas, Wills and Wirfs

Introducing the 17 Guards

Part 1: Bredeson, Hunt, Jackson and Lewis

Part 2: Stenberg, Simpson and Throckmorton

Introducing the 10 Centers

Big Ten’s Biadasz, Ruiz Lead Way

Introducing the 55 Receivers

Part 1: Aiyuk, Bowden did it all

Part 2: Duvernay, Edwards and Gandy-Golden

Part 3: LSU's Jefferson among TD machines

Part 4: Lamb, Jeudy top receiver class

Part 5: Mims leads Texas trio

Part 6: Ruggs, Shenault produce big plays

Introducing the 30 Running Backs

Part 1: Cam Akers, Eno Benjamin and J.K. Dobbins

Part 2: Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Zack Moss

Part 3: D’Andre Swift and Jonathan Taylor

Introducing the 17 Quarterbacks

Part 1: Burrow, Eason, Fromm

Part 2: Gordon, Herbert, Hurts, Love

Part 3: Tagovailoa and two Wisconsin natives