By Hunt Palmer
Brian Kelly coached nine tight ends at Notre Dame who were drafted. Five of those were drafted in the first or second round.
LSU has had five tight ends drafted since 2000. None of those were drafted in the first or second round.
The last time LSU had a tight end picked in the top 60 picks was when David LaFluer was the 22nd overall pick of the Cowboys in 1997. His son enrolls at LSU this summer.
So, it’s no coincidence that the first tight end Brian Kelly coached all the way through his eligibility at LSU will leave as the most productive in the history of the school.
Mason Taylor departs Baton Rouge with 129 catches and 1,308 yards to his name. Both are school records.
When the most productive player ever at a position leaves, realistically a dip in that production from the position is expected. That goes for any sport.
I’m not expecting that in 2025. Neither is LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan.
“As for the tight ends, adding in Bauer and Donovan (Green) but Trey’Dez being back, the growth that he’s had, the way he’s practiced this spring as a complete player, man, he’s pretty electric,” Sloan said. “The way Bauer has come in, I think Coach (Brian Kelly) spoke, I saw a comment he made about (Sharp’s) mentality. He’s been excellent for us, and Donovan has been a very experienced guy that has a level head and can kind of bring a calm, cool demeanor to the group. So, I think there’s a lot of pieces that are exciting about that group.”
While Taylor’s play was excellent, dependable and a part of the reason LSU has thrown for more yards per game than any program in college football over the last two seasons, his production is replaceable.
Taylor’s 6-foot-5 frame and 255 lbs. are matched almost identically with Bauer Sharp’s. Sharp is listed just five pounds lighter. While Taylor made 13 more catches than sharp last year and accounted for 222 more yards, Sharp played in a passing offense ranked No. 119 among 134 Division 1 programs.
Bauer Sharp continues to impress. Beats Hardy here one-on-one for a touchdown. #Sooners pic.twitter.com/kmzeAxHOXS
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) April 2, 2024
Now playing alongside Nussmeier as opposed to Jackson Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr., it stands to reason that Sharp would see an uptick in production. While both Sharp and Taylor are very good athletes, neither would be classified as elite in a certain trait. They’re not 4.45 runners or 40-inch leapers. Neither is 6-foot-8.
The freakish traits belong to Trey’Dez Green who is back for his second season. Green stands 6-foot-7 and does possesses elite leaping ability. That was on full display during his brief stint with the LSU basketball team.
LSU 5⭐️ true freshman TE Trey’Dez Green with the block and dunk for the basketball team😤
(via ESPN) pic.twitter.com/VSM9xSE04T
— On3 (@On3sports) January 26, 2025
Last season Green made 13 catches for 101 yards and four touchdowns, but half of that production came when Taylor opted out of the bowl game paving the way for a six-catch, 53-yard day that included a pair of touchdowns.
“I think (Sharp and Green) bring a little bit of different things, when it comes to athletically,” Sloan said. “I’ve heard people describe a tight end room. You want it like a basketball team. Everybody can’t be the same because we’re going to have a lot of different assignments and roles that we ask those guys to play.”
Between Sharp’s potentially steady play and Green’s ability to create serious problems for defenses, it’s easy to imagine LSU surpassing their tight end numbers from 2024 below:
Mason Taylor: 55 catches, 546 yards, 2 TD
Trey’Dez Green: 13 catches, 101 yards, 4 TD
Ka’Morreun Pimpton: 6 catches, 79 yards, 0 TD
Totals: 74 catches, 726 yards, 6 TD
It would only take Sharp improving by 40 yards from his anemic Oklahoma offense and Green jumping from 101 yards to 365 yards as a sophomore.
That doesn’t even include any contribution from A&M transfer Donovan Green who started four games an Aggie freshman in 2022.
“I think you look back at what Coach Kelly has done with tight ends and now what we’ve done with tight ends since we’ve been here, mostly with one guy, Mason Taylor, but I think you see the emergence of Trey’Dez when we got to the second half of the season. And now you watch the growth this offseason, and I think he’s going to speak to the development of this program,” Sloan said.
One other piece to this puzzle is that teams did not have to respect the deep ball from LSU last season. Too much of the tiger passing attack was around the line of scrimmage. That crowds things for the tight ends. With Chris Hilton healthy and speedsters like Barion Brown and Nic Anderson in the fold, teams may have to relax their defenses to handle all of that much like in 2023 with Brian Thomas and Malik Nabers.
That could mean excellent matchups and space for the 2025 LSU tight ends.
And I expect the production to keep coming even as Taylor moves to Sundays.
