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Portal Profile: Bauer Sharp

Jan 20, 2025 | 8:26 AM

By Hunt Palmer

LSU blitzed the transfer portal in December and totally reshaped the 2025 roster. It’s all part of a program shift toward NIL and portal additions.

In this series, we’re going to look at all of the transfers Brian Kelly and his staff brought in to assess where they fit and what our projections are for them in 2025 and beyond.

Next up is Bauer Sharp, the tight end transfer from Oklahoma.

WHAT WE KNOW: LSU’s tight end room was nearly baren when Brian Kelly took over. Arik Gilbert and Kole Taylor had defected in 2021 and 2022. Mason Taylor was coming in as a true freshman, and he was essentially asked to be the starter from Day 1.

The result was the most productive run in the school’s history. Taylor started 37 of 40 games over the last three years and caught 129 passes for 1,308 yards and six scores. His two-point conversion grab against Alabama will be played for decades to come, and it feels a little more pertinent on this Monday morning after what happened to Baltimore on Sunday night.

Ka’Morreun Pimpton has moved on to TCU, so only Trey’Dez Green remains on the LSU roster at tight end.

Brian Kelly helped develop eight draft picks at tight end while at Notre Dame. Players like Michael Mayer, Cole Kmet, Tyler Eiffert and Kyle Rudolph starred at the position under Kelly’s watch. With Taylor leaving early for the NFL, there was a massive whole to be filled in the Tiger offense.

Bauer Sharp helped fill that when he committed to LSU on December 13. Sharp signed with Southeastern Louisiana as a quarterback in 2021. After one season with the Lions, he moved to tight end. Though the position was new to him, Southeastern made every effort to get Sharp the ball because of his athleticism. He totaled 288 yards and three touchdowns on 29 receptions and rushed 25 times for 133 yards and five scores.

He moved on to Oklahoma where the reports out of spring were glowing. Unfortunately for Sharp and the Sooners, nothing about the offense worked out. Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was fired before Halloween, and the Sooners finished 15th in the SEC in scoring offense and dead last in passing.

Sharp led the team in catches with 42 and yards with 324, 16 more than Kayshon Boutte had against Ole Miss in 2020. He’s 6-foot-4, 243 lbs. And he’s a really good athlete.

Half of his tape is at the FCS level, and the other half is in an inept offense. That makes an evaluation tough.

Pro Football Focus did not grade him highly as a blocker, just 38.9 in pass protection and 50.0 in the running game. He is big enough to handle himself at the line of scrimmage and athletic enough to make plays in the passing game.

LSU will try to unlock that.

THE FIT: Green is going to play a big role in LSU’s 2025 offense, but he can’t be relied on to consistently win as a blocker. So, it’s unlikely that LSU asks him to do that. Sharp fills the more traditional tight end role.

He’s mature and now has some experience at tight end. Joe Sloan and whoever coaches the tight ends will have to figure out how to deploy Sharp and Green with some help from another Green, Donovan from Texas A&M. That’s enough bodies, but the rotation will be important.

HUNT’S PROJECTION: I like Sharp as a rotational piece. Trey’Dez Green is too dynamic to take him off the field too often, so I think Sharp and Green will share the field a good bit. If he were given every snap like Taylor was, Sharp would probably end up catching about 500 yards worth of balls in the LSU offense. I’ll project a tick under that, maybe 400 with three or four scores.

The LSU staff will get a good look at Sharp as a blocker in the spring. If he passes that test, he’ll likely take reps from Donovan Green. If not, those two might share snaps.

Sharp, from an ability standpoint, was a great addition. The fit becomes the most important thing. LSU will try to replace Taylor in the aggregate. I think Trey’Dez Green replaces the most of Taylor’s production on the stat sheet, but Sharp presence as a more traditional tight end will supplement that.