Texas Football: 3 underrated offensive players ready to breakout

Jared Wiley, TE

Texas has two experienced and proven tight ends returning this fall. The more experienced of the two is super senior Cade Brewer. And the other is the former underrated three-star recruit and junior Jared Wiley.

The boost that Wiley got in his production from his freshman to sophomore campaign in the passing game was large. Wiley registered just one catch for 15 yards in his first season playing for Texas in 2019. Then, he racked up 9 receptions for 166 receiving yards and one touchdown catch last season.

A larger percentage of plays that Brewer was on the field for last season had him running routes instead of blocking compared to Wiley (80 compared to 75 percent). But the margin wasn’t all that large.

But the fact that Wiley saw a bigger rise in his production as a receiving tight end last season, combined with his higher blocking grades, should get him favor with the new coaching staff over Brewer. For his career, Brewer has much more snaps in game action and more receiving yards. That shouldn’t matter much with the new coaching staff in replace.

When Texas looked Wiley’s way last season, good things happened often. He got a first down on five of his nine receptions last year, and his yards per catch was stellar (18.4). Texas is likely to look his way more often this fall, especially considering he didn’t have a single drop last season.