It’s a tough time to be a tight end in Baton Rouge.
Four games into the season, the position has produced the least for the No. 17 LSU football team’s offense.
As a unit, the tight ends have been targeted six times but have only caught two balls for a total of 12 yards. One of the catches was a completion from sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings to senior tight end Travis Dickson for seven yards that he fumbled against Wisconsin.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” said sophomore tight end DeSean Smith. “I thought it was going to turn out a little better for the tight ends this year.”
At the same point last season, nine passes were aimed at the tight ends with four completions for a total of 98 yards. There has been no turnover in contributors at tight end from the 2013 season, with Dickson, Smith, junior Dillon Gordon and senior Logan Stokes all returning.
What has changed, however, is their involvement in the passing game.
With strong receivers in Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, the tight ends anticipated having a smaller role in 2013. But coming into 2014, they expected to be utilized more with the youth at the receiver position. After dropping passes and making mistakes throughout the beginning of the season, they have been relegated back to primarily blocking.
“There is a little bit of frustration,” Smith said. “Everybody wants the ball. If you didn’t want the ball, you wouldn’t be here.”
Although they are not as involved in the passing game, the tight ends said they still have an important role in the Tigers’ offense.
“It’s something as tight ends we repeat all the time,” Dickson said. “We have a hidden involvement in this offense.”
One factor in their lack of involvement in the passing game is how often LSU has rushed the ball this season. Through last weekend’s game against Mississippi State, LSU has passed the ball 96 times and has ran exactly two times more with 192 rushes.
Some of this stems from the receiving corps’ and quarterbacks’ lack of experience. Jennings, who has been the starter throughout the season, hasn’t completed a pass to a wide receiver who isn’t a freshman or sophomore. This partially is due to the fact that nine of the 13 receivers on LSU’s roster are freshmen.
With all of the Tigers’ youth, running the ball has been LSU’s primary play choice. However, the passing game has yielded more success than the ground attack. The Tigers have picked up a total of 768 yards and have averaged four yards per attempt on running plays — but in the air, they have picked up 983 yards and averaged 10.24 yards per attempt.
“As you can see, we can throw the ball,” Smith said. “I don’t think it would be bad to put more passes in our game plan.”
Though they have been underutilized in the passing game, the tight ends still have an important role for the Tigers this season. Even with some frustration from the tight ends, they are still positive and want to make the most of the opportunities they do get.
“There may be games where we don’t have any involvement in the passing game,” Dickson said. “And then all of a sudden one week opens up, and we become a big part of the passing game. It changes from week to week, so we know to stay positive and to keep looking into the future.”
You can reach Michael Haarala on Twitter @haarala_tdr.