Matt Campbell encouraged by Iowa State's depth at tight end

Heading into 2023, tight end is a position of strength for the Iowa State Cyclones. It was a spot where ISU thrived two years ago, but after losing its top playmakers at the position after the 2021 season, the Cyclones took a step back at TE in 2022. Well, this fall, they have last year’s best tight ends back plus a pair of freshmen who will challenge for playing time right away.

With the war chest replenished at tight end for Matt Campbell, he’s excited to get back to featuring them within the offense. At Big 12 Media Days this year, he was specifically asked about the state of the tight end position and waxed poetically on the room for this upcoming season.

You can read his full comments and breakdown of the tight ends right here:

Matt Campbell raves about TEs, details how each guy is coming along

“What a great comment, and I remember that question. I was probably haunted by that mid-season a little bit. A little bit of that, honestly, we had some really tough injuries. Easton Dean who had really come on for us last year in fall camp was injured and really played sparingly for the first 70 percent of the football season. To get him back was huge.

“Tyler Moore was a young player that got injured right at the start of camp and really played limited all season. Then DeShawn Hanika really kind of grew as the season went. Not to make excuses, but those injuries, one thing, the positive about those injuries is it forces a lot of other guys to get on the field and have to play for us.

“Stevo Klotz emerged. Obviously, Easton was able to fight back, DeShawn Hanika really started to play great football the second half of the season, and then you talk about the under-swell of youth in our program at that position.

“I would tell you we’re as deep at the tight end position as we’ve been since we’ve been at Iowa State. A lot of credit goes to the recruiting Coach Taylor Mouser has done for us. But also I would say the development that that group from the experiences they got a year ago to the opportunity to really grow and develop this off-season, we’re really excited about what that group has got the ability to look like.”

Even if the stars of the tight end room aren’t clear yet, Campbell is excited about the depth of talented options he has at his disposal in 2023.