NORMAN - Trynae Washington hasn’t done much on the field for Oklahoma yet, but Jason Witten already sees plenty to like.
The Sooners’ new tight ends coach came into Norman and immediately started digging through practice film from the 2025 scout team. Washington jumped out right away. Then Witten kept hearing the same thing from players in the room.
“(Washington) has a really bright future,” Witten said.
Witten, a 17-year NFL veteran who previously coached at Liberty Christian School in Texas, said the feedback from teammates matched what he saw on tape. Upperclassmen and underclassmen alike told him Washington was one of the hardest workers around.
“I just continued to hear the defensive guys, when I got here, rave about how dialed in he was, that he wasn’t mailing it in,” Witten said.
Washington’s body also told the story. He was listed on Oklahoma’s 2025 spring roster at 233 pounds, and he now enters his second college football season at 260 pounds. Witten said the difference was obvious when he first met him.
“From the guy I watched last fall to when I met him, he looked like a different guy,” Witten said. “You love to see that - that you’re putting the work in as a young freshman.”
A Midwest City, OK native who played at Carl Albert High School, Washington arrived at OU as a highly regarded recruit. Rivals and ESPN ranked him as a 4-star prospect in the Class of 2025, while 247Sports had him as a 3-star.
So far, his college résumé is still thin. Washington was a true freshman in 2025 and used his redshirt on the season. He played two snaps in Oklahoma’s 44-0 win against Kent State in the middle of the season, and that was it.
Even with that limited sample, Witten believes the best is still coming.
“He’s very coachable, he’s strong, he’s a very good athlete,” Witten said. “He’s got a lot of guys, who have joined him, who have played a lot of snaps, so he has a lot of great resources in the room with his teammates to lean on.”
Oklahoma’s tight end room has been reshaped around him, too. The Sooners brought in Hayden Hansen, Rocky Beers and Jack Van Dorselaer from the transfer portal, and they also signed Tyler Ruxer and Ryder Mix in their 2026 recruiting class. The only returners in the group are Washington, Kade McIntyre and John Locke Jr.
That means Washington may still be waiting for his next real chance to get on the field. Hansen and Beers have already piled up thousands of collegiate snaps, while Van Dorselaer appeared in all 13 of Tennessee’s games as a true freshman last season.
Witten, though, thinks the entire group is in position to help in 2026.
“You never know what that room’s going to look like,” Witten said. “I’ve been really impressed with how these eight guys have come in and gelled and genuinely pulled for each other and competed in the right way.”
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