Gunnar Helm’s improvement and work ethic gives Texas options at tight end
One of the questions about the Texas football team entering the season was about depth at tight end behind Ja’Tavion Sanders but the improvement of junior Gunnar Helm through the first three games have belayed many of those concerns.
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Sanders, who is a candidate to turn pro after this year as the Longhorns’ best tight end since Jermichael Finley walked the 40 Acres in 2006 and 2007, has been – as expected – productive this season for Texas. He has seven catches for 158 yards and a touchdown over the first three games and is a player that must be covered in the middle of the field and when the Longhorns are in the red zone.
During the preseason, Helm – an Englewood, Colo. product who goes at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds – made significant strides at the position. He caught five passes for 44 yards while playing in all 13 games last year, four of them starts.
Helm had his real coming-out party on Saturday in Texas’ 31-10 win over Wyoming, hauling in a pass for 14 yards and nearly scoring in the second quarter, eventually setting the table for a 1-yard TD pass to defensive tackle Bryon Murphy II.
“I’ve been talking about Gunnar and telling you he had a great training camp,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after beating Wyoming. “He’s played really good football through the first two weeks and so for him to get that opportunity there was a bit of a reward for the work that he’s been doing.
“Gunnar has played good football and he’s got good hands. It’s a benefit to us when we can keep spreading that ball around.”
Helm said as exciting as it was to make his big catch against Wyoming, he will get plenty of good-natured flak from his teammates about not scoring.
“It’s definitely something I’m not gonna be able to live down for a while,” Helm said. “I mean to get that close to scoring a touchdown without actually getting in. I’m not worried, it’s gonna happen eventually.”
Helm came to college with pass catching as a strength but has had to address the other demands of the position to get increased playing time.
“It was always kind of second nature catching the ball, especially coming from an offense in high school that threw the ball a lot,” Helm explained. “I’ve tried to pride myself on run blocking and I would say that’s my biggest area of improvement – that’s kind of what I put my head down and went to work on.”
Helm understands that everybody on the Longhorns has a role and he’s just trying to embrace his.
“If that means to be the hardhat, lunch pail kind of tight end I’m happy doing that, you know, to reach the ultimate goal,” Helm said. “I just take it day by day, get better at the small things, get better at blocking. The more I can do every day by staying after, hitting the sled, catching extra balls from Quinn (Ewers), Maalik (Murphy) and Arch (Manning) – whatever it takes to help this team win games.”
