TE McKitty emerges as strong receiver

Ten months removed from Jimbo Fisher’s prostyle offense and with just a few months of preparation running Willie Taggart’s spread-style offense, tight end Tre’ McKitty has endured few setbacks.

The starting sophomore beat a veteran tight end pool, including junior Gabe Nabers, redshirt senior Johnathan Vickers and junior Naseir Upshur, for the starting job.

“For us, he’s not a safety valve, he’s a guy who can go make plays. He’s a guy who we want to attack people with,” FSU offensive coordinator Walt Bell said of McKitty. “Building week-toweek in terms of packages, and making sure we can put him in a position to go win matchups and be explosive.”

Taggart has emphasized using tight ends as more than blockers, making sure they can be receiving threats.

In 2017, tight end Ryan Izzo had 19 catches for 306 yards. He played all 13 games, with six of his 19 receptions against Southern Mississippi — the second game after former coach Jimbo Fisher resigned.

As a freshman, McKitty played 11 games. Of those 11, he touched the ball once for a 23-yard gain against Louisiana Monroe — the day after Fisher resigned.

McKitty learned a lot from the Fisher years, though, taking advice from tight ends who spent their entire college career under the now Texas A&M head coach.

Izzo, who went on to play tight end for the New England Patriots, spoke to McKitty in the offseason, giving him technical advice on his footwork.

McKitty also credits O.J. Howard, a first-round pick out of Alabama and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end, with helping improve his blocking.

“I got to talk to O.J. Howard a little bit when he was here with Jameis [Winston],” McKitty said. “Just looking over some of the drills that he did when he was blocking.”

“He’s got a chance to be a special player,” Bell said of McKitty. “He and Nabers both, they have a chance to be really good football players. They are like human Swiss-Army knives. They can go out there and play in the slot, they can play attached tight end, they can play in the backfield. Especially in modern football, whether it be in the NFL or the college level.

“The more dudes like that that you have, the better chance you have to be [successful].”