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It's lights, camera, action for Texas tight end Gunnar Helm when on the big stage

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•10/15/24
Gunnar Helm
Gunnar Helm (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Last year’s Texas-OU game foreshadowed big things to come for Texas tight end Gunnar Helm. With an injured Ja’Tavion Sanders limited to one reception, Helm stepped up and had four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown in the narrow loss to the Sooners. This year, in victory, he had five receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. 

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That’s a fine day for any tight end, but it wasn’t his biggest game of the year. That happened in Ann Arbor as much of the focus heading into the game centered on Michigan tight end Colston Loveland. Helm was dominant with 7 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. 

With his hot start to his senior season, Helm has caught the attention of everyone, from the common fan, the NFL Scout, the mock draft bros, and, Texas’ opposing head coach this week, Kirby Smart.

First of all, he’s a tremendous blocker. He’s not a one-way tight end. He’s got great size, I mean this guy is huge on film. But he’s a great pass-catcher. The scheme that Sark has, it’s not like they say go one-on-one and get open. They’re sprinting out throwing back. They’re play-action boot naked, okay throw a screen off it. Everything that you don’t honor, because you’re thinking about another play, they got a play off of it that makes you honor him. He’s a tremendous blocker. I think the quarterbacks are really comfortable with him. So when you get zone elements and holes in zones they trust him to go be at that spot and catch the ball. I wasn’t aware of him going into the week because I had not really heard of him but now watching tape he’s a really good player and you’re right he had a really big game this past week.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart

Bravo for this quote because it encapsulates most of Helm as Texas’ No. 1 tight end. He is huge, he does block well, he does benefit from Steve Sarkisian‘s play design and play calls, and he does have great rapport with Quinn Ewers. 

One thing Smart left off, and perhaps it’s because he’s used to the freaks Georgia has had at the position, is Helm is a better athlete than given credit for. In a way, Helm should be credited with his own test for measuring tight end athleticism: The Golf Backflip Test.

If you can hit a golfball like this and backflip as a 6-foot-5, 230 pound recruit, you are an auto-take.

While everyone becomes enamored with the basketball star who runs 4.4, you can excel at the position with coordination and body control (golf swing) and good enough explosion (backflip). 

It doesn’t hurt to have great rapport with QB1, either. Said Helm of his relationship with Ewers, “I think it goes to, kind of flashes back to when he first got here, I walked up and introduced myself, we immediately became good friends off the field. That connection has always been there. Now that it’s happening on the field it’s great for both of us. It couldn’t make me happier.” 

This ties directly into what Smart mentioned about defeating zone coverage, something he’ll need to do at times against Georgia this Saturday night. With so many receivers to worry about, will the Bulldogs give enough attention to Helm? That’s something both Michigan and Oklahoma, two good defenses, struggled with. 

So far, Helm seems to come up biggest in the big games. Like most competitors, he thrives on the atmosphere. “Yeah, it’s great. It’s a different kind of electricity in the air. Like last weekend, State Fair outside there’s 100,000 people in the stadium, 100,000 outside the stadium. It’ll be pretty similar here, especially with F1 going on. It’s going to be a crazy weekend in Austin. But, our job is focusing on the task at hand, not get caught up with the Game Day, the F1, and different buzz going around Austin. Our job is to go in there with a clear mind, comfortable at home, and do our best to beat Georgia.”

Helm has found himself in the perfect situation. He has the talent, size, and want-to to be good no matter what school he plays for, but he also has the quarterback to find him when he’s open, and, perhaps most importantly, the right man with the call sheet to fully take advantage of his talents.

“Just make the movie when it comes to us,” Helm said. “He’s [Sark’s] already dialed up the script.”

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With yet another big game on the biggest stage, this movie would be a sequel for Helm.

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