The story was written by the rag out of Jackson.
STARKVILLE — In 2004 and 2005, the Texas Tech offense looked much the same as any other Mike Leach offense ever has.
It was a pass-heavy scheme, with quarterbacks who surpassed 4,000 passing yards and three wide receivers who reeled in over 1,000 receiving yards in those seasons. Those are all common characteristics of Leach’s Air Raid system, throwing the football almost exclusively while posting gaudy offensive numbers for throwers and their receivers.
But further down the stat sheet from those two seasons lies Bristol Olomua — a player who fit a description that Leach has often searched for yet has infrequently found. Olomua was a 6-foot-5 tight end who added another element to the offense.
He wasn’t a blocker. Leach doesn’t fancy wasting a player on blocking when he can instead be catching. In his two seasons at Texas Tech, Olomua caught 55 passes for 568 yards and six touchdowns.
Leach has searched for a similar sort of player in the subsequent years, a pass-catcher who can create mismatch issues for a defense. Usually, his search comes up empty.
Since Olomua’s 2005 season, Leach has listed four tight ends on his rosters. Only one of those ever caught a pass, with Adrian Reese combining for 10 catches for 140 yards in 2006 and 2007. Omar Castillo transferred to New Mexico, where he reverted into an offensive tackle. Another, Nick Begg, transitioned to the defensive line, appearing in 27 games during his career at Washington State.
But Leach envisions a place for another tight end in his offense at Mississippi State (6-4), which plays Saturday (11 a.m., SEC Network+) against Tennessee State (5-5). The addition of one would give quarterback Will Rogers a unique target who can cause further nightmares for a defense already contending against a swarm of options on each play.
“What I would love to have, which I’ve tried over the years — and I hope to find one here — the true tight end guy,” Leach said Monday. “But you need a guy that one, can catch. Two, can run. And can move to a lot of positions and he’s effective, which sounds an awful lot like a defensive end, which is where all my potential tight ends have gone over the years for the most part, is defensive end. If we can get a full load of defensive ends, I’d love to get a guy like that, where you can move him around.”
In a way, Leach has used running back J.J. Jernighan in that role. He’s usually on the field in two-back sets, providing a lead blocker for Dillon Johnson or Jo’quavious Marks to follow on runs. But Jernighan has also shown off his hands, with four catches against Arkansas and one against Auburn, the latter coming on a lunging 15-yard snag for a first down.
Leach said he has his eye on a few options at Mississippi State who might fit that tight end mold. Wide receivers Caleb Ducking and Brad Cumbest are both 6-5, although Cumbest is a large contributor for the baseball program and hasn’t appeared in a game for the football team this year.
At 6-4, 215 pounds, recent walk-on wide receiver Andrew Berquist could be another potential option for a tight end. Or Leach could pull an athletic edge rusher to the offensive side of the ball to experiment.
But whoever would be in that position would “not just (be) some pluggy, sluggy guy” for blocking.
“I’d want him to be able to run and catch the ball, and I do have an eye on a couple guys hopefully that can maybe do something like that,” Leach said. “Because I do think it would give you a lot of versatility and stuff. But I’m not talking about just a blocker that shifts right or shifts left. I’m talking about a guy you throw it to and you’re not afraid to send him down field with the size mismatch on the strong safety, something like that.”
