Oklahoma went into the 2025 season needing more from its tight ends. It came out of it with a full reset.
The Sooners changed the room from top to bottom after the year, bringing in Jason Witten as tight ends coach in January to replace Joe Jon Finley. They also added three transfers - Hayden Hansen, Rocky Beers and Jack Van Dorselaer - and signed two Class of 2026 tight ends, Tyler Ruxer and Ryder Mix.
Witten arrives with a long football résumé of his own. He played 17 seasons in the NFL and was the head coach at Liberty Christian School in Texas before taking the Oklahoma job.
The new faces bring plenty of intrigue. Hansen spent three seasons at Florida before moving on, Beers is entering his sixth year of college football, and Van Dorselaer is still early in his career but played in all 13 of Tennessee’s games as a true freshman in 2025.
On paper, there’s real upside here. Hansen and Beers both come in with production that should help Oklahoma right away, especially in the passing game and around the goal line.
Hansen put together his best college season in 2025, catching 30 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns for the Gators. Beers was one of the few bright spots on a Colorado State offense that struggled, finishing with 31 receptions, 388 yards and seven touchdowns.
That kind of production gives the Sooners a chance to be more dangerous in the red zone. The bigger question is whether the group can do the dirty work that Oklahoma sorely lacked a year ago.
Run blocking was a problem for the tight ends in 2025, and it showed up in the numbers. Jaren Kanak’s receiving production - 44 catches for 533 yards - mattered, but his 43.9 Pro Football Focus grade on 204 run-blocking snaps was rough.
Of the Sooners’ four tight ends who played more than 50 snaps, three finished with run-blocking grades below 50. Carson Kent, who transferred to Pittsburgh after the season, was the only one above that mark at 56.3.
That weakness fed into a run game that never really found its footing. Oklahoma finished 13th in the SEC in rushing at 118.5 yards per game. The tight ends weren’t the only issue, but they were part of the problem.
Now the room looks almost completely different, and that matters. Hansen and Beers both posted solid run-blocking grades in 2025, with Hansen at 56.7 and Beers at 56.4. Van Dorselaer’s 44.6 grade wasn’t strong, though he was also a true freshman seeing SEC competition for the first time.
Oklahoma needs a better run game to make the jump it wants to make on offense, and the tight ends are a key piece of that puzzle. The talent is there. The question is whether the blocking improves enough for fans to believe it.
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Now the focus is less on what Oklahoma already survived and more on what it can withstand if it wants to push higher. Analysts around the program see Mateers health as the swing factor in whether the Sooners can truly contend for a championship, because the margin between a good season and a special one may come down to how much of their offense he can keep on the field. [Read more 🡒]