Brenton Strange shares progress report on Penn State's young tight ends
When fourth-year Penn State tight end Brenton Strange looks at winter early-enrollee Jerry Cross, he sees a player with a football background he can identify with.
Strange is a native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Cross comes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both places, Strange said, can leave something to be desired when it comes to the quality of the high school football.
“Jerry, I think he’s a lot like me in certain ways. In Milwaukee, the football’s not the best. In West Virginia, the football’s not the best,” Strange said. “So you come in and you’re kind of new to everything and how things are run.”
As the most experienced player in Penn State’s tight end room, it’s Strange’s job to help bring Cross along.
He’s a player who certainly has the physical gifts. At 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, Cross came into Happy Valley as a four-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus, and the No. 12 tight end in the Class of 2022.
He is not, however, the only talented young tight end in that room.
Second-year TE Khalil Dinkins also fits that description.
Dinkins saw almost no action in 2021, appearing in one game and playing only a pair of snaps.
Strange said the improvement is tangible with Dinkins this spring.
“He’s made tremendous strides from where he was last year,” Strange said. “I can see it. Practice to practice, he’s doing things that he might have messed up on previously and perfecting those, getting better at his craft.
“I definitely think both of those guys have a great future and the tight end room will be in good hands.”
Penn State football’s tight end usage makes impact
The Nittany Lions took an interesting approach in deploying their tight ends last season, with Strange, Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren each seeing extended action.
Warren, firmly third in that pecking order, saw 227 snaps.
Outside of 2020, when Penn State lost Pat Freiermuth midseason and had to ask more of Johnson, the Nittany Lions’ third-string tight end hadn’t played over 100 snaps since 2015.
In the first season under offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, it wasn’t unusual at all to see three tight ends on the field for Penn State at once.
Strange believes the experience gathered by all three tight ends as a result of that usage is something that will make a mark long-term.
“I definitely do think there’s a long-term impact, especially with having the offense a second year, because you see things that are details and things you might not have known the first year or the first spring ball or whatever it was.
“Maybe it’s 12 or 13 personnel (meaning a two- or three-tight end set) and Tyler and Theo are right there next to me and we have a blocking assignment together. That blocking assignment’s a lot easier when we have that communication and we know those details. It definitely helps a lot.”
