With Drew Svoboda, Oklahoma State Finally Seems Poised to Throw to the Tight End

STILLWATER — The tight end position is back, probably.

New tight end coach Drew Svoboda has served as a position coach for tight ends three times, including the last two years under Eric Morris at North Texas and once under Nick Saban in 2021.

Across those three seasons, four different players have seen 26 targets, with three of them seeing 37-plus.

For context, Oklahoma State has only one tight end with 25-plus targets in the last 11 seasons.

Josiah Johnson saw 30 targets, sixth-most on the team, in 2023. He finished the year with 22 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown.

In 2016, former Cowboy Blake Jarwin finished fifth in targets (23) and caught 19 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns, one year after turning 23 targets into 17 catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

Otherwise, the position was largely ignored in the passing game.

That certainly wasn’t the case in Tuscaloosa in 2021 when Alabama tight ends Cam Latu (brother of former OSU DE Nathan Latu) and Jahleel Billingsley finished with 38 and 37 targets, respectively, to finish fourth and sixth on the Crimson Tide that season.

They weren’t just there for short yardage either, as they combined for 660-plus yards and 11 touchdowns on 43 receptions.

It’s not just an Alabama thing, either.

Last season at North Texas, Tre Williams saw 39 targets, fifth-most on the team, and hauled in 30 catches for 375 yards and five scores.

That was a huge jump from the previous year, when current Cowboy, Oscar Hammond, finished eighth in targets (26) for UNT and finished with 19 receptions for 238 yards and a touchdown.

Of course, all of this could be dismissed as a by-product of decisions made by the offensive playcaller. But Morris’ last two offenses without Svoboda, 2023 UNT and 2022 Washington State, weren’t that different from Oklahoma State when it came to tight end neglect.

In 2023, tight end Xzavior Kautai led the room with nine targets, resulting in 39 yards on six catches, while Billy Riviere paced Wazzu tight ends with 17 targets, finishing with 12 receptions for 117 yards and a touchdown in 2022.

With such a small sample size, it’s possible Morris just happened to have access to superior pass-catching tight ends during the last two years. That certainly sounds like a role former No. 4 tight end recruit Donovan Green could fill as he turned 26 targets into 22 receptions, 233 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman at Texas A&M in 2022.

At the very least, working with Svoboda doesn’t lead to lower usage rates among tight ends in the passing game. He spoke with reporters about what the coaching staff is looking for out of the position this week.

“The true hybrid,” Svoboda said. “That’s what we love here. He’s part running back, part fullback, part receiver, part tight end, part offensive tackle, part offensive guard. He can kind of do a little bit of everything. And that true H hybrid tight end is what really flourishes in this offense.”