FAYETTEVILLE — No doubt there are many opposing coaches out there recruiting against Arkansas by pointing to the fact that SMU completed only five passes to tight ends last season under current Arkansas head coach Chad Morris.
That’s something that caught the eye of Razorbacks tight ends Cheyenne O’Grady and Jeremy Patton, but they did their homework instead of accepting the narrative.
As an offensive coordinator at Clemson and Tulsa, Morris did make use of his tight ends - one being current New England Patriots tight end Dwayne Allen, who caught 60 passes his sophomore and junior seasons and won the 2011 Mackey Award.
“I kind of was (worried), but then I did a little research,” Patton said. “I’m a big Indianapolis Colts fan - I’m from Indianapolis and Dwayne Allen was our No. 2 tight end for a number of years. So I kind of already knew that he used the tight end.”
O’Grady (6-4, 251), a junior who is the top returning pass catcher among tight ends with 21 receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns last season, is thrilled with the play-calling last spring and early in preseason camp.
“As an individual, that has always been my strength - running, doing routes, catching the ball - it really excites me honestly,” O’Grady said. “I have actually had more fun here now than any other time of mine here at Arkansas. I’m excited.”
Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney, Jr., knows Morris didn’t have any tight ends on the roster when he arrived at SMU.
“You use what you have got and when he inherited that team, it was coming from a run-and-shoot … and tight ends are hard to find. They really are,” Lunney said. “Sometimes the mid-majors have even a harder time finding them than we do because there are only so many out there.
“So it was very obvious they didn’t have the personnel that they quite wanted to to use the offense that they did at Clemson and like I think you are going to see us do now.”
There are those who think that O’Grady, a Top-100 player nationally who chose Arkansas over Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Louisville, Ole Miss and others after shining at Fayetteville High, is ready to become an All-SEC performer.
“I think this is my fourth year here and I haven’t really done much, and given this new offense, the opportunities are everywhere - whether it is with the ones, twos or threes,” O’Grady said.
Lunney believes the potential is certainly there for O’Grady to have a breakout year.
“I think to a large degree he controls that,” Lunney said. “The opportunity is going to be there with a lot of reps and a lot of opportunities and how he performs will lead to whether there are more or less.
“From a talent standpoint, ability and knowledge, it is all there. But … we need him to take the next jump in production, maturity and those type of things. If he will do that, I think he will have a really good year.”
O’Grady, the son of late former Arkansas basketball player Larry Marks, arrived on campus with an admitted lack of maturity and had a public intoxication arrest before he even saw the practice field.
“Given what has happened in the past, I have grown up as a player, off the field and as a man,” O’Grady said. “I have to really give thanks to coach Lunney for that because he has always been on my butt about anything and everything, even as simple as in a meeting.
“He’ll be on me making sure I am not dozing off or just messing around, which I haven’t been lately, and I have him to thank for that.”
O’Grady is now ripped due to his work in the offseason with new Razorbacks strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll.
“Coach Tru has done a phenomenal job as far as how my body looks and getting stronger, losing (bad) weight and putting on good weight,” O’Grady said. “We actually have a nutritionist and they are on us about bad eating habits. I used to have terrible eating habits and now they have started shaping me up and I feel better than ever.”
O’Grady and Patton (11 catches, 189 yards) are part of a group that also includes Austin Cantrell (13 catches, 85 yards), Grayson Gunter (1 catch, 29 yards as a freshman before redshirting last season) and junior walk-on Blake Kern (6-4, 257)
“Tight ends really have a big role in this offense on first down, second down, third down,” Patton said. “They throw it to us, we do screens, we do it all. As a room, we are really excited about what is coming our way.
“In the up-tempo, somebody is going to get gassed after four or five plays, so, boom, next tight end and everybody is going to be getting reps and it is just big fun really.”
Patton (6-5, 253) was regarded as the nation’s top junior college tight end in the 2017 class, but arrived late. The transition was tough.
“I don’t want to say, like, it has been a walk in the breeze or anything, but last year it was like hell on fire,” Patton said. “I was scrambling, trying to learn everything I could and get extra time in meetings.
“This year with the whole spring behind me, the whole summer workouts behind me I am in way better shape and I have a better fundamental knowledge of the offense. I know that I can almost play any position in this offense and feel comfortable.”
It was the first spring practices of Patton’s life as he had always been playing basketball as well.
“This was my first real offsseason,” Patton said. “ … Last year, me getting here late, I didn’t have time to acclimate or bond with my teammates. So this year, going through the workouts, going through the struggle with these guys, I just feel so much more positive about myself and about my production levels this year.”
Quarterbacks Cole Kelley and Ty Storey are competing for the starting signal caller job and like what they see out of the tight ends.
“The tight ends are doing good really,” Kelley said. “Grayson is doing good, also and Austin Cantrell is running good routes and Jeremy Patton is doing what he has always done - running good routes and blocking well. And CJ (O’Grady) is doing really good. We utilize our tight ends a lot.”
Storey thinks they all bring unique things to the table.
“We are really loaded at that position,” Storey said. “Austin Cantrell obviously brings his own aspect to it and CJ and Jeremy and all of those guys can do something a little different that we can take advantage of. They all can really help the team and I think that is huge for us.”
Cantrell (6-3, 263) has seen more snaps than any of the group with some coming at tight end and some in the backfield.
“You would take 20 Austin Cantrells in our program,” Lunney said. “He’s tough, smart, takes care of business, good hands. Very, very much a huge role in what we are trying to do.
Gunter (6-6, 244) is the the wild card, according to Lunney.
“Grayson is interesting because you know he has had two torn labrum in his past and that has really hindered his upper body strength and the timeline of his development,” Lunney said. “I think in about the sixth or seventh practice of the spring … he made a play and it was almost like, ‘Wow, there is the guy we thought he would be.’
“He really ran with those opportunities in the spring and obviously coach Morris is in there talking about him today for a reason. He has an impact on our coaching staff and we can use this guy.
“But here is what I am excited about, he is 242 or 244 pounds and he is starting to take off physically, and so that would allow for him to get more involved in what we are doing in the run game and not be the guy we just put in to catch.”