Rookie TE can “stretch the field”
Okwuegbunam ready for another leap after total college makeover
Back when Albert Okwuegbunam was a lanky, speedy wideout at Sacred HeartGriffin High School in Springfield, Ill., the Cyclones ran what longtime coach Ken Leonard dubbed “The Man” offense.
“The Man” offense — a colloquialism used to describe the Cyclones’ spread attack — featured Okwuegbunam as its centerpiece. And with good reason: Okwuegbunam was a critical part of state title runs as a sophomore and junior before leading the team to an undefeated regular season as a senior.
“Our philosophy was all about getting ‘The Man’ the ball, and Albert was ‘The Man’, no question about it,” Leonard said. “Especially his senior year and a lot of his junior year, too. He had great raw hand-eye skills and could catch the ball, and he was 6-foot-5 and could run — so we had plenty of mismatches at the high school level, and we took advantage of them.”
But despite his designation as “The Man” for the majority of his time at Sacred Heart-griffin, Leonard described Okwuegbunam as a “late bloomer.” It wasn’t until he got to Missouri that he transformed into the 258pound brick of a tight end the Broncos selected in the fourth round (No. 118 overall) of last week’s NFL draft.
“When we recruited him, he was a skilled athlete, but he was really 215 pounds, I think, when he stepped on campus,” former Missouri head coach Barry Odom told
Broncos.com. “I remember watching him in a basketball tournament over the Christmas holiday during the recruiting process. He scored 30-something points. And I thought, ‘We’ve got an athlete here, but I don’t know how big he can get.’
As Okwuegbunam packed on muscle, his combination of size and speed (his 4.49-second 40yard dash at the combine was the fastest among tight ends) made him an SEC force.
While those physical tools didn’t necessarily make Okwuegbunam “The Man” in Missouri’s offense, it at least made him one of them. After redshirting as a freshman, Okwuegbunam accumulated 98 catches for 1,187 yards over 33 games in three seasons (24 starts) with 23 touchdowns — so nearly a quarter of his receptions went for scores.
In the two years he played with Broncos quarterback Drew Lock in Columbia, Mo., Okwuegbunam had 17 touchdowns among his 72 catches. That’s a connection Okwuegbunam expects to translate to the NFL.
“A lot of the times in tough situations, I was the guy that (Lock) always felt comfortable with just knowing that he always had an open throw in me, regardless of the situation,” Okwuegbunam said. “If we needed a big play, his eyes are coming to me. Just the amount of confidence he had in me (was big), and coming out of routes I feel like we’re always on the same page. All across the board, that chemistry is there.”
On top of size and speed, Okwuegbunam’s length (he had the longest arms of any tight end at the combine at 34k inches) has him believing in his “ability to stretch the field all over” at the professional level.
“(I’m) going to put a lot of strain on the corners and safeties,” he said. “They can’t favor one side of the field. We can hit them everywhere. … (I’ll be) too fast for a linebacker and be too big for a (defensive back).”
The 22-year-old enters a crowded tight end room led by Noah Fant, who blossomed into a playmaker as a rookie in 2019. Also competing for time will be Nick Vannett, Jeff Heuerman, Troy Fumagalli, Jake Butt and Austin Fort.
Okwuegbunam said he’s looking forward to developing alongside Fant.
“I definitely remember him from the draft process (in 2019),” Okwuegbunam said. “I’m excited though, because iron sharpens iron. He’s a great dude and I hear a lot of great things from Drew. It’s going to be fun to see how we elevate each other.”
Back in Springfield, where Okwuegbunam is the only Sacred Heart-griffin player ever drafted, Leonard believes his former doall wideout, defensive end and returner will prove to be much better than the six other tight ends taken ahead of him in this year’s draft.
“I’m predicting that he’s going to come out as the best tight end in the draft, and that he’s going to be a problem for Broncos’ opponents for years to come,” Leonard said. “We saw how much he accelerated his play throughout high school and then again at Missouri. I really believe he’s primed for another leap.”