In this episode of The Big Ten Huddle, hosts JR and Zack dive into a comprehensive preview of the tight end position in the Big Ten for the 2025 college football season. The episode focuses on ranking the top 20 tight ends, analyzing their 2024 performances, highlighting breakout candidates, and identifying the strongest tight end duos across Big Ten teams. The hosts also discuss challenges in evaluating tight ends, particularly due to injuries and the balance between receiving and blocking roles.

Key Topics Discussed

Top 20 Tight End Rankings: JR and Zach share their individual rankings (00:03:50–00:09:31), with differences outside the top four. Notable players include:

Max Klare (Ohio State): Praised for his receiving ability but needs blocking improvement (00:03:50).

Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon): A breakout candidate compared to Brock Bowers (00:04:39).

Jack Velling (Michigan State): Noted for past production but a dip in 2024 (00:04:13).

Luke Reynolds (Penn State): Expected to emerge as a top option by season’s end (00:05:20).

Injury Concerns: Players like Hudson Habermehl (UCLA, ACL tear), Cole Rusk (Illinois), and Lake McRee (USC, undisclosed spring injury) face recovery challenges (00:06:34, 00:06:47, 00:03:24).

Tight End Duos: Discussion of potent duos, with Penn State (Reynolds and Dinkins) and Oregon (Sadiq and Johnson) highlighted as top pairs (00:11:49, 00:27:49).

Breakout Potential: Players like Marlin Klein (Michigan) and Jameson Greer (Minnesota) are seen as having high upside (00:10:14, 00:22:22).

Challenges in Ranking: The hosts admit difficulty ranking beyond the top 8–10 due to limited data on blocking tight ends and injuries (00:02:06–00:02:29).

Useful Timestamps

00:00:00–00:01:11: Introduction and episode overview.

00:03:50–00:09:31: JR’s top 20 tight end rankings.

00:09:32–00:13:19: Zach’s top 20 tight end rankings.

00:20:08–00:23:24: Discussion on Holden Staes and Jameson Greer’s potential.

00:27:49–00:30:01: Analysis of top tight end duos in the Big Ten.

00:31:01–00:31:36: Proposal for a Big Ten fantasy football league.

Additional Notes

The hosts encourage listener engagement, suggesting comments on YouTube or emails to jrsrankings@gmail.com for feedback (00:00:56–00:01:04).

They propose a mid-season update to revisit rankings and a potential Big Ten fantasy football league (00:30:27–00:31:36).

Zack mentions upcoming appearances on other podcasts, including the OHIO podcast and Out of the Blue podcast, discussing the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry (00:32:00–00:32:56).

Links and Contact Information

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Contact: Email feedback to jrsrankings@gmail.com