Throughout the offseason, much has been said about the Wisconsin Badgers new-look offense, as they added quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to go with a strong running back room and a returning receiver core.
However, the one position that hasn’t gotten much buzz has been the tight end position, which has just six scholarship bodies, with two of those being true freshmen Grant Stec and Robert Booker.
In Year 1 of the Luke Fickell era, tight ends were more of an aftermath in the offense, as senior Hayden Rucci led the way with 11 catches for 125 yards, with true freshman Tucker Aschcraft behind him with eight catches for 86 yards.
With the lack of production in the receiving game from tight ends, Wisconsin involved a good amount of four-receiver sets, utilizing both Will Pauling and Skyler Bell in the slot in exchange for a tight end, as they tried to spark the offense in different ways.
This season, the Badgers are even more inexperienced at tight end, as Rucci departed for professional opportunities, leaving Wisconsin with Ashcraft and redshirt senior Riley Nowakowski as the top returners at the position.
Through the first two weeks of spring ball, how has the tight end room looked?
Thus far, it has essentially been an open competition at tight end, with four scholarship tight ends rotating across the top two teams: Ashcraft, Nowakowski, redshirt sophom*ore J.T. Seagraves, and transfer Jackson McGohan, who didn’t record a stat during his freshman season at LSU in 2023.
Offensive coordinator Phil Longo acknowledged that the job is up for grabs, with all four tight ends having an opportunity to showcase their talent and knowledge of the offense during spring ball.
“Tucker [Ashcraft] and Riley [Nowakowski] are back. They have the most reps from last season. But, if J.T. Seagraves elevates himself and moves ahead from a production and execution standpoint, then we’ll play J.T. Seagraves or anybody else that’s here,” Longo said about the tight end room. “[Jackson] McGohan is learning and running around and doing some nice things.
“So, it’s just nice to have guys that want to compete their tails off and to have greater numbers in each room so that, you know, as Fick (head coach Luke Fickell) says all the time, ‘iron sharpens iron.’ And that really is probably the thing that’s occurring in a lot of our rooms right now. So you’d like to have more guys at each position that actually get on the field and help us compete this year.”
J.T. Seagraves
Seagraves has been the intriguing piece, as he earned praise from the staff last offseason, while earning additional reps with the top offense early on in the spring, as he rotated with the others in the group.
Head coach Luke Fickell acknowledged the opportunity that Seagraves has to showcase his talents in the spring, while stressing the importance of taking advantage of his opportunities.
“He’s still growing,” Fickell shared last week about Seagraves. “He’s got some opportunities. He’s got to take advantage of these opportunities. That’s kind of the emphasis right now. We’ve got some guys that are a little bit dinged up and don’t get to rep as many times.
“So some of these younger guys [get] the opportunity that they got to kind of take and run with. And if they do, then who knows, right? I mean, they may not relinquish it. And that’s the idea of hunter be hunted, right? I mean, it’s sad. You pull a hamstring, you go down. The reality is if somebody else goes in there, if they take it and they run with it, hey, that’s a part of the game.”
Tucker Ashcraft, the team’s top returning receiver at the position from a season ago, was limited to begin the spring, leading to others getting additional chances to see action, including Seagraves.
As the spring continues, Fickell imagines that Seagraves will get more opportunities, but the players need to do something with those chances.
“He’s doing a good job. We’re going to continue to push him,” Fickell said of Seagraves. “He’s going to have these opportunities. He’s just got to continue to take advantage of them and understand and learn the game and play it not just at the intensity, but the speed at which we need to.”
Jackson McGohan
On Saturday, LSU transfer Jackson McGohan got the chance to stand out with a few red zone catches, moving well after the catch in the limited chances.
While there haven’t really been any standout days for the tight ends yet, it’s good to see flashes, and McGohan had that on Saturday, catching a few passes to begin practice before seeing more action in the red zone.
As the lone transfer in the room, McGohan is still learning the offense and acclimating to his new team while fighting for opportunities. Additionally, he’s still a young piece, being only a sophom*ore after seeing eight games of special-teams action at LSU last season.
But, with the lack of experience overall at the position, McGohan is an active part of the competition and should continue to get chances to showcase his skillset as the spring continues.
Overall
Ultimately, it’s tough to evaluate who Wisconsin will rely on the most at tight end through the first two weeks, as it’s unclear whether the Badgers will value blocking or receiving more at the position.
However, Wisconsin does have a number of emerging receiving options, with slot receiver Trech Kekahuna shining throughout the spring, potentially leading to more four-receiver sets in the fall like we saw last week with Skyler Bell.
That could lead to more of a blocking role for the top tight ends this season, where certain players are better than others.
As the spring continues, we’ll continue to see if any tight end begins to stand out or compile consistent days, but as offensive coordinator Phil Longo shared, it feels like an open competition in the room so far.
