The most sure-handed receiver on this Huskies team? That’s tight end Cade Otton
Three Tumwater High School players lined up wide left, 26 yards away from the goal line, with two seconds remaining and one chance.
Among them was Cade Otton, the T-Birds’ towering senior tight end, an elite run blocker who also had a knack for catching almost any pass thrown in his direction.
When quarterback Noah Andrews took the snap he quickly rolled to his left and made a leaping throw into a crowded end zone.
The number of Bellevue players in the scrum far outnumbered Tumwater’s receivers. Still, as time expired, it was Otton who high-pointed the pass and held on, falling to the turf with the ball while three defenders aggressively tried to bat it away.
“I thought they improvised really well, because we usually do that play to the right,” T-Birds coach Sid Otton, Cade’s grandfather and the winningest high school coach in state history, said that night in Bellevue in 2016.
“He put it up there, and the big guy latched it out of the sky.”
Touchdown was signaled. Tumwater’s sideline emptied and piled on Cade Otton as the T-Birds secured a signature early-season win over a program that had long commanded the attention of the state.
It wasn’t the first incredible catch Otton made on a football field — though perhaps one of the most memorable, and it certainly gave the Washington Huskies fan base reason for excitement a month after he made his commitment — and it wasn’t the last.
Otton departed Tumwater following that season as the program’s career leader in catches (95), receiving yards (1,705) and receiving touchdowns (33), his sure-handed catches often adding an exciting wrinkle to the T-Birds’ run-based offense.
He joined Washington’s program in 2017, and in the three seasons he’s played since has become one of the most pivotal players on the Huskies offense.
He’s made more highlight-worthy catches throughout his college career, and his continued steadiness in the passing game led him to become UW’s top receiver in the shortened 2020 season.
And, like that night in Bellevue five years ago, Otton has come up with clutch catches in the most pressure-packed moments. The grab he made in the final minute last November against Utah — when he crossed the field in stride with quarterback Dylan Morris, snagged Morris’ dart out in front of him and dashed into the end zone for the game-winning score — comes immediately to mind.
So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Huskies coach Jimmy Lake, when asked Wednesday who on his team has the best hands, pointed to his trusted junior tight end.
“I think, put me on the spot, I’m going to say Cade Otton,” Lake said. “I mean, that guy just absorbs everything that’s thrown at him. I think you guys see it, too. In a game, in a practice, and you don’t see it bounce off his hands very much.
“I would have to say Cade Otton. Best hands on the team.”
Otton has long been commended for his run blocking ability as a product of a storied high school program that has run the Wing-T for more than three decades, and now a starter in an offense that often favors the run. But, his pass-catching ability has been just as valuable as he’s become a key contributor for the Huskies.
Even with three NFL-bound tight ends in the room his first three seasons with the program — Will Dissly (drafted by the Seahawks in 2018), Drew Sample (drafted by the Bengals in 2019) and Hunter Bryant (undrafted in 2020, signed with the Lions) — Otton found ways to make an impact and eventually carve out a role as a primary target.
He redshirted during Dissly’s final season in 2017, but earned a nod from the strength and conditioning staff at the postseason awards banquet, winning the Ultimate Bird Dawg award. He played in every game during the 2018 season as a redshirt freshman, earning 10 starts, and caught 13 passes for 174 yards and three touchdowns — including the first of his career against North Dakota — trailing only Sample among tight ends in catches and receiving yards (Bryant played in five games due to injury). He started every game as a sophomore, and was UW’s third leading receiver behind Aaron Fuller and Bryant, hauling in 32 passes for 344 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Otton appeared primed for his most productive season yet in 2020 as the Huskies’ top returner at tight end, but the COVID-19 pandemic shortened it to four games. Otton still at least doubled every other UW receiver in catches with 18, while also leading the Huskies in receiving yards (258) and receiving touchdowns (three). He was named one of eight semifinalists for the John Mackey Award — the annual award given to college football’s top tight end — an honorable mention All-American, All-Pac-12 first-team pick and the program’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player.
He also piled up all of these catches, yards and touchdowns the past three seasons without wearing any gloves.
“That just kind of goes back to youth football,” Otton said last week. “I just didn’t really like how they felt. I liked feeling the ball when I caught it. So I just never really wore gloves. That’s kind of how it’s always been.”
His steadiness has only continued the first week of fall camp, as he prepares for a fourth season after opting to stay with the Huskies instead of entering the 2021 NFL Draft.
He caught Morris’ first pass during an 11-on-11 period on the first day of camp, and has worked primarily with Morris’ group, but also caught passes from Patrick O’Brien and Sam Huard since. He’s hauled in anything catchable, including touchdown passes from Morris on Day 4 and from O’Brien on Day 6 on an impressive juggling catch.
Otton is the clear leader in a tight ends room that currently has 12 players listed on the roster, but noted when he spoke to reporters recently his excitement for the group as a whole.
“I think about our tight end room, and it’s incredible honestly,” he said. “I was here and watched Will Dissly and Drew Sample and Hunter Bryant, but I think this is the deepest and best our tight end room has ever been. There’s so many guys in there who can play on any team, I think, and contribute a lot and make a lot of plays.
“And no one rests on that. Everyone’s in there working hard, watching film, getting extra work, and our goal is to be the best unit on the team, best unit in the conference and best unit in the country. Every day we’re working towards that, and every guy in that room is a part of it.”
But Otton, and the stability he offers this Huskies offense, remain at the center.
“He’s Ol’ Reliable,” Morris said with a smile. “Anytime something’s going bad, I just find 87. … I think he just brings so many things to the table, between the run game and the pass game. He’s a different type of tight end.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 1:16 PM.
