UW Huskies have had a run of productive in-state tight ends. Who’s next?
Each of the past five seasons, the most productive pass catcher in the Washington Huskies tight ends room has been a former standout from an in-state high school.
In 2017, Hunter Bryant — who once helped Eastside Catholic to two Class 3A state titles in 2014 and 2015 — had a breakout season as a true freshman, leading the room in catches (22) and yards (331) and adding his first career touchdown despite missing the final four games of the season.
The next fall, Drew Sample, who played his high school football at Newport of Bellevue, paced the group with 25 catches, 252 yards and three touchdowns that matched the scoring production of Tumwater’s Cade Otton, then a freshman.
Bryant, who also missed time due to injury in 2018, played a full set of games in his final season in 2019, and led UW with a team-best 825 receiving yards on 52 catches, while also adding three touchdowns.
Otton paced the Huskies in every receiving category during the shortened 2020 season, and finished with 18 catches, 258 yards and three scores.
He was the program’s top tight end again last fall in his final season, hauling in 28 catches for 250 yards and a touchdown in the eight games he appeared in.
Sample was drafted by the Bengals in 2019, Bryant signed with the Lions in 2020, and now Otton is headed to the 2022 NFL Draft.
Will the trend of in-state talent leading the Huskies’ tight ends room continue this season? It certainly appears it will.
UW returns multiple scholarship tight ends this season who previously played at high schools in the state, and has added another to its incoming 2022 class.
The most returner with the more game experience is another former state champion.
Devin Culp was a key contributor in Gonzaga Prep’s win over Skyline in the 4A title game in 2015, scoring a pair of early touchdowns to help the Bullpups to an undefeated season, their third title win and first since 1986.
Two years later, the Greater Spokane League standout and all-state performer signed with the Huskies, choosing to head to Seattle over offers from Washington State and both Pac-12 programs in Oregon.
Entering his fifth season at UW, after playing alongside those three NFL-bound tight ends early on, Culp is looking to carve out a primary role on this Huskies offense.
“I look at it as a blessing, really,” Culp said following Wednesday morning’s fourth spring practice at Husky Stadium. “I was able to learn from some very elite tight ends.
“I’ve been able to pick little pieces from out of all of their games, and take it with me out on the field and do what I can with it.”
It’s been a long journey, Culp said, but he’s ready to build on his season last fall, when he posted the best numbers of his college career.
“I’m very happy with where I’m at right now, and the opportunity that’s ahead of me,” he said.
Culp redshirted his first season in 2018, and appeared in 14 of the Huskies’ 17 games during the next two, but played less than 90 offensive snaps between those seasons, per Pro Football Focus, recording one catch.
Then, last fall, he played in each of UW’s 12 games, starting five. He finished with 20 catches for 222 yards, and his first career touchdown against Arizona State.
Culp lined up for 417 offensive snaps during the season — by far the most of any of UW’s returning tight ends — and noted seeing results was “huge for my development and growth as a player.
“It was important to prove it to myself, and I felt like I really did get to prove it to myself through the few starts and few moments that I got to go in and play last year and have some big-time contributing moments and time,” he said.
Culp was one of the players new UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb noted stood out when reviewing film from last season. So was tight end Jack Westover.
Westover, who played at both Mount Si and O’Dea in high school, returns the most game experience to the room after Culp.
Also a fifth-year junior, Westover appeared in every game in 2019 and 2020, and then the first three and final four of last season, finishing with a career-best six catches for 56 yards on 110 offensive snaps.
“Those guys are wildly athletic for tight ends,” Grubb said. “If they can become factors in the run game, I think those guys can be difference-makers.”
The Huskies also bring back Inglemoor’s Quentin Moore, who appeared in two games last fall after joining the program from Independence (Kansas) CC, as well as former Eatonville two-way standout Caden Jumper, who signed with the 2021 class.
UW will also add Tumwater’s Ryan Otton — Cade’s younger brother — ahead of the fall season after he signed with the program during December’s early period.
Culp noted Wednesday his excitement for the group as they work within the Huskies’ new offensive system.
“I love this offense,” Culp said. “I think it’s going to be extremely explosive. … There’s so many different tools and different routes that they’re putting into the tight end bag because they see what we’re capable of, and it’s really exciting.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
