Ja'Tavion Sanders ready to deploy his improved tight end skills
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has often said that behind quarterback, the most important position in his offense is tight end. It’s also the position group he’s praised during training camp as one of the most improved. One of the main reasons for that line of thinking is the play of sophomore Ja’Tavion Sanders.
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Sanders, who played in all 12 games last year mostly on the Longhorns’ field goal unit, wasn’t a tight end coming out of high school. He began his career on playing mostly on defense for Denton (Texas) Ryan, and his play on the edge vaulted him into well-known prospect status. As his time on the Raiders went on, he saw fewer snaps on defense and more snaps at wide receiver, and finished his high school career with a 1000-yard, state-championship season.
Sanders knew that when he finally enrolled at Texas that offense was his future under a head coach like Sarkisian. He also knew that he would be playing tight end, a position he had never played.
“We really do have one of the hardest jobs, for sure,” Sanders said Friday. “Understanding all the pass protections, run blocking, route concepts.”
Now in his second year at the position, Sanders is expected to be the starter when the season kicks off versus Louisiana-Monroe.
It wasn’t easy for Sanders to pick things up at his new position. Last year during his first training camp, tight ends coach Jeff Banks had to put Sanders through some extra work to help him understand his new responsibilities.
“Getting my run blocking down,” Sanders said about his toughest learning curve. “I was never used to blocking in perimeter areas, so that was really a struggle for me when I first got down here. I’m starting to pick up on it.”
Sanders later said he now likes blocking, but it took a lot of effort from both him and Banks to reach that level. That process wasn’t completed last fall. It carried over into the spring, too.
After a slow start in the first few 2022 spring practices, the proverbial light turned on for Sanders and he ascended up the depth chart to occupy his current TE1 spot. How did he get there?
“Hard coaching, that’s what it was,” Sander said. “I was making simple mistakes that I shouldn’t have been making. Just hard coaching, and that’s what I love about Coach Banks. He coaches me hard. I’ve been used to that all my life. I appreciate him for that.”
Blocking was always where Sanders would have to make the most progress, but his receiving ability has translated from wideout to tight end. His prowess as a receiver earned praise from Sarkisian on Thursday when he said Sanders has the ability to be flexed out. Sanders has worked to make the necessary strides to where he can impact all facets of the offense, and the team.
“Being able to be a better in-line blocker for sure,” Sanders said. “Having Bijan be able to trust me to protect the C-gap for him just in case he needs to bounce anything outside. Just being a better leader for our team, because our team is young. Being a leader for us and the young guys.”
Sanders mentioned he likes to watch Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and wants to try to replicate how he runs routes and blocks for the prolific KC offense. He’ll have a lot of opportunities to do so this season, and he feels like he’ll look good doing it wearing a new number.
“I never had zero and I felt like I would look good in zero,” Sanders said.
