8/4/2021 football Edit

Husker tight ends at the center of attention this fall

Robin Washut • InsideNebraska

Senior Writer

Robin has been with HuskerOnline since July of 2008, focusing on Nebraska football team coverage as well as being the No. 1 Husker men's basketball team and recruiting writer.

Word has been spreading about the potential of Nebraska's tight ends since the start of spring ball.

By the fifth practice of fall camp, that group had already gotten the attention of NFL scouts.

During the opening portion of Wednesday's practice, scouts from the Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and Cincinnati Bengals focused on NU's tight ends.

In particular, they kept close tabs on juniors Austin Allen and Travis Vokolek.

Austin Allen and Nebraska's tight ends were the center of attention during Nebraska's fifth fall camp practice on Wednesday. (Sean Callahan)

Having a tight end position get that kind of NFL interest was nothing new for offensive coordinator Matt Lubick.

During his final season at Oregon in 2016, the Ducks had three tight ends go on to play in the NFL as undrafted free agents in Evan Baylis, Johnny Mundt, and Pharaoh Brown.

In Lubick's mind, Allen and Vokolek are already ahead of that group in several ways.

"The NFL scouts should be looking at those guys," Lubick said. "I think my last year at Oregon, we had three tight ends that all went to the NFL. (Allen and Vokolek) are the best two I have ever been around from consistency, leadership, and just the way they practice."

NFL scouts had their attention focused on Austin Allen and Travis Vokolek on Wednesday. (Sean Callahan)

Much has been made about how much more Nebraska could use the tight ends in the passing game this season. Lubick and tight ends coach Sean Beckton reaffirmed that was still very much the case nearly a week into fall camp.

Beckton said the Huskers added some new wrinkles to the playbook to feature the tight ends and made them the tight ends the No. 1 read on some existing passing plays.

That could especially be the case in the red zone, where Nebraska has struggled mightily to score touchdowns over the past few years.

Beckton said he, Lubick, and head coach Scott Frost watched a lot of NFL film this offseason to find some new red zone passing concepts to incorporate into their offense. A lot of what they saw featured the tight ends as primary receivers.

“They’ve changed a little bit of the reads for the QBs, so the tight ends are the first read on certain plays,” Beckton said. “They’re pumped about it. They’re seeing a lot of balls coming their way.”