Tight End
Starter: Blake Annen
Back Up: DJ Dowdy
Only two, or maybe three guys will be listed on the weekly depth chart, but I expect far more to play on a week to week basis. Dowdy is the athletic successor to Adrien Robinson and Travis Kelce. But I don't know that he can unseat Annen before the end of camp. In time Dowdy will become the main guy at TE, it will probably happen before the end of the year. But Annen has value as a blocker and is a better receiver than he gets credit for. The two wild cards at TE are Patrick Coyne and Travis Johnson. Coyne is more of an H-back, but he is an explosive athlete. Johnson might just be the most physically gifted TE to come to UC. He could very well redshirt, but he might be too good to keep off the field.
Full Back
Starter: Jared Golden
Back Up: Deionte Buckley
Golden took control of the job in the spring, and he will certainly be the full back when UC choses to go big, but Buckley is going to have a roll as a ball carrier. He will not be the main option to run the football, but he will get touches. Any offense that choses to use a fullback has to make the defense respect that position as a threat, otherwise there is no point to having a full back on the field. Buckley is such a threat, in a way that Golden is not. Lonnie Pryor is a good frame of reference for the role that Buck is supposed to play.