A recent examination by Sports Illustrated to see which college football programs produce the most talent by position, the Miami Hurricanes were the runner-up as tight end U to Stanford.
Sports Illustrated came up with the determination that Stanford has produced the best tight ends since 2010 via an elaborate and fair system. The Miami Hurricanes currently have multiple TEs in the NFL, but some of those players did not fit into the criteria because they entered the NFL before 2010.
Only six Miami Hurricanes alums at TE entered the NFL since 2010. Only Jimmy Graham who barely made the cut as a third-round draft choice by the New Orleans Saints in 2010 has had a major impact in the NFL. No other Miami TE drafted by the NFL other than Graham in the 2010s has made a Pro Bowl appearance.
Dedrick Epps was a seventh-round pick by the San Diego Chargers in 2010, Richard Gordon a sixth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders in 2011, Clive Walford a third-round pick by Oakland in 2015, David Njoku a first-round pick by the Cleveland Browns and Chris Herndon a third-round pick by the New York Jets in 2018.
Walford holds the triple crown of Miami Hurricanes receiving records for a TE. From 2011-14 Walford has a Miami best for a TE 121 receptions for 1,753 yards and 14 TDs. Walford broke the records of Kellen Winslow jr’s reception record of 119, Willie Smith’s record of 1.544 receiving yards and Bubba Franks TD record of 12.
Who Is the modern Linebacker U? Quarterback U? Wide Receiver U? https://t.co/DKgOxwhmGo
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 11, 2020
Walford got off to a good start in his career with 61 receptions for 680 yards and two TDs in his first two seasons with Oakland. After nine receptions for 80 yards and no TDs in his third season in 2017, Walford went to the Jets in 2016. Walford played in only one game for the Jets in 2018.
In 2019, Walford had four receptions for 57 yards with the Miami Dolphins in 2019. Graham has carried the torch for the Hurricanes TEs. A potential future Pro Football Hall of Famer, Graham has 649 receptions for 7,883 yards and 74 TDs in 10 seasons with the Saints, Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.
Graham has been to five Pro Bowl and was named second-team All-Pro in 2011 and First-Team All-Pro in 2013. Among TEs in his career, Graham ranks seventh in receptions, eighth in yards and fourth in TDs. Only Antonio Gates, Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez and Rob Gronkowski rank ahead of Graham in receiving TDs by a TE.
The explanation of the system and short acknowledgment of Graham were written by Sports Illustrated in the section on TEs. Because they were drafted into the NFL before 2010, players like Greg Olsen, who recently signed with Seattle after long stints with the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers do not count.
"“However, among the contenders for Tight End U., Miami and Iowa not only have more first-round pick(s) to their credit, but have put an All-Pro player into the league since 2010 (Jimmy Graham and George Kittle, respectively).Tight end is the only position in the Position U. series without an SEC club in the Top 5, though there’s plenty of depth. Six of the Top 20 programs in our TE rankings came from the SEC, more than any other league.1. Stanford, 33 points2. Miami, 303. Iowa, 294. Notre Dame, 265(tie). Oklahoma, 205(tie). USC, 207(tie). Arkansas, 167(tie). Penn State, 169(tie). Alabama, 149(tie). Wisconsin, 14"
Graham signed with the Bears in the offseason. He should thrive in the system run by head coach Matt Nagy. Nagy had a lot of success in Kansas City as the offensive coordinator with Travis Kelce at TE before being hired in Chicago for the 2018 season. Walford, Herndon and Njoku have shown promise but not produced as expected.
Njoku looked like he was on his way to stardom with 88 receptions for 1,015 yards and eight TDs in his first two seasons. The Browns signing of Austin Hooper as a free agent last month likely means Njoku will be the backup TE in Cleveland. Herndon had 39 receptions for 502 yards and four TDs as a rookie in 2018, but 1-7 in 2019.