2021 Gophers Position Previews: Receivers and Tight Ends

After a truncated 2020, Minnesota returns to a full 12-game football season Sept. 2 against Ohio State. Here at Ski-U-Blog will be previews of the team's notable players within each position group. The series begins with the Gophers' pass-catchers.

Likely Starters

The most accomplished player in the Gophers receivers room is Chris Autman-Bell, a redshirt senior who has started for three years running as usually no more than Tanner Morgan's second choice. But Autman-Bell has been consistently productive, averaging a couple catches per game over his career and every once in a while having a big game. He's also made huge plays in moments that demanded it.

Autman-Bell played primarily (but not exclusively) on the outside his first two seasons, but after Tyler Johnson's departure, he ran routes from the slot more often. This became more frequent in the last two games of the 2020 season, once Rashod Bateman had left the team. While Autman-Bell was out wide the majority of the spring game, he figures to be the starting receiver who spends the most time inside.

Yards after the catch made up 43 percent of Autman-Bell's production in 2019 but just 9 percent of it in 2020. As a junior, screens and short routes took up a smaller share of his targets, with Bateman doing much more of the work around the line. Autman-Bell still was Morgan's second-favorite target beyond the line of scrimmage, but he had just one opportunity at a catch behind the line, a decline from the six he had in the previous year.

Though Autman-Bell can play his way into being a late-round NFL Draft pick, he hasn't shown he can be a star like Johnson or Bateman. He's never broken 500 yards in a season. (If you extrapolate his 2021 numbers to a full 12-game slate, he would have been closer to 800.) He might be the first-choice receiver entering the season — and he is a fine one — but unless Autman-Bell has another level, Minnesota will need more out of the guys behind him.

Daniel Jackson, last year's third-choice, will likely be the No. 2. Jackson finished his first year with 12 receptions and 167 yards on 21 targets, nearly all of which came at least 10 yards downfield. All but one of his intermediate targets (10 to 19 yards) were outside the hashes, and he averaged just 2.5 yards after the catch. In other words, he didn't play much of a factor in the short game and will be expected from time to time to do stuff like this:

Jackson didn't produce a ton of highlights like the above catch from the spring, but he showed enough talent in his role to earn some trust.

Newcomer Dylan Wright is a former 4-star Texas A&M signee who profiles strictly as an outside receiver, which will probably result in more slot snaps for Jackson. Wright's high school highlights show off the length, strength, and ball skills that make him an exciting red zone target. He seems to have good speed, but 247Sports' Barton Simmons listed route running and short-area athleticism among his weaknesses as a prospect.

Wright didn't catch a pass at A&M, and though he enrolled in January, we didn't get a chance to watch him in the spring game. As a result, projecting his role is leaning mostly on his pedigree. With four years of eligibility, he'll have time to show what kind of player he can be in the Big Ten.

If Jackson and Wright are the second- and third-choice receivers, the ceiling of the passing game will depend on their ability to produce in multiple ways. Should at least one of them makes plays after the catch and in short and intermediate areas, Minnesota will have a well-rounded, dangerous offense.

The Gopher tight end group, meanwhile, won't have a tremendous part to play in determining that. Their combined 16 targets last year represents a substantial jump from earlier seasons but still reflects their minimal role as pass-catchers. That seven of those targets came in the first game against Michigan suggests expanding that role might have been an idea that had traction before the season started but lost its appeal after a 25-point loss.

Offensive co-coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. wants to get the ball to his tight ends. His past stops have included more passes to tight ends, so it is likely Sanford just has a proclivity for it. It also makes sense to give them targets, considering the Gophers' personnel tendencies. They played with at least one tight end on the field nearly every play last season, and with two or more on over a third of their snaps. If they are on the field and running routes, opponents should at least have to consider the tight end as a threat, as that will make the wideouts' jobs easier and make downs featuring heavy personnel less obvious run situations.

The first Gopher to score a touchdown in 2020 was Ko Kieft. He only made one other catch the rest of the season (later in that game) but was a valuable blocker. He returns for a sixth season thanks to the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted because of the pandemic and should remain the most frequently used tight end. The ostensible backups will continue to get heavy rotation.

Key Backups

The Gophers haven't typically involved more than three or four receivers in the offense since P.J. Fleck became head coach. But with the lack of an elite No. 1, and with the inexperience behind Autman-Bell, they would be well-served to give opportunities to more players in 2021. But it's unlikely they make use of the whole depth chart.

Mike Brown-Stephens is a slot receiver that started seeing more of the field last season and scored his first touchdown in the Wisconsin game. Among Gopher wideouts, his 6.8 Air Yards per reception were the least, so don't expect him to play a major role in the deep passing game.

Former walk-on Clay Geary emerged late last year to make four catches in the Nebraska game and then decided to come back for his sixth year in the program. His spring game performance — 74 yards on four catches, plus an impressive touchdown that didn't count — won't have won him a starting role but might have earned him more trust as an option.

Brevyn Spann-Ford appeared primed for a breakout 2020, having shown flashes of his receiving ability in 2019 and with the arrival of Sanford to give the tight ends the ball more. Instead, Spann-Ford finished the season with six targets — one more than he had in 2019, and the most of any player at his position, but still a paltry total. And he made just one catch.

Spann-Ford could get more chances to produce in 2021. He often enters the game on passing downs and is usually flexed, indicating he is the Gophers' preferred receiving tight end. If the position is targeted more, Spann-Ford should be the greatest beneficiary.

Bryce Witham is the only player left on the roster from the Jerry Kill regime, entering his seventh year in the Minnesota program. He's made eight catches in that time (getting a standard redshirt and a medical one along the way), but his targets have come in important moments such as Minnesota's bowl win over Auburn. Perhaps it's because the coaches trust Witham; perhaps it's because he's the eligible player on the field the opponent least expects to get the ball. Perhaps it's both. Regardless, it would be a surprise for Witham to get the ball much in 2021.

UPDATE: Witham will not play a seventh season.

Potential Rotation Options

Redshirt freshman Douglas Emilien entered the program with electric high school tape and figures to be a sudden route runner who can play inside or outside if he gets the opportunity. After sitting in 2021, Emilien might get a shot.

Brady Boyd played exclusively as an outside receiver at Southlake Carroll High School (Texas) and flashed some ability in that role with a two-catch, 60-yard spring game.

But if not for that performance, the true freshman would probably make more sense in the bottom section of this post. Boyd is at best the third option on the outside, playing in an offense that hasn't typically given targets to guys lower down the depth chart. If Boyd sees the field for non-injury reasons, I don't expect it will be in more than the four games allowed to preserve his redshirt.

The Gophers could have a couple of gadget players to consider. Seth Green had long stretches between receptions as a Gopher, so there might not be many meaningful snaps for presumed Wildcat quarterback Dylan Hilliard-McGill. But he is listed as a receiver and could figure into the rotation from time to time, if perhaps only in blowouts.

Justin Walley, though considered a cornerback, played receiver and returned kicks in high school. He was also the recipient of a tap pass in the spring game. Walley could contribute in all three phases. But as a true freshman, with plenty of true wide receivers competing for playing time, his role in the offense probably won't be too expansive.

At tight end, Austin Henderson saw action in the Nebraska game due to COVID-19-related absences but otherwise did not play. At times last year, the Gophers went four deep at the position and have seen Jacob Paulson depart, which should open the door for Henderson to get more playing time in his redshirt freshman season.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

Rosemount native Jonathan Mann had a slightly better composite rating than Emilien did as a prospect but, like Boyd, will have to work his way into the mix on the outside. Georgia native Lemeke Brockington was Minnesota's highest-rated receiver signing this winter and might have prominent role in the offense in the next few seasons. His one target in the spring game suggests he's not there yet.

The highest-rated receiver signing in the 2019 class, meanwhile, was Nnamdi Adim-Madumere. Now a redshirt sophomore, Adim-Madumere has yet to see the field at Minnesota. At 6 feet, 4 inches and 235 pounds, his best chance might be as a tight end, where he played in the spring game with Witham and Spann-Ford out.