Greatest College Football Tight Ends of All Time

These are the greatest tight ends to ever play college football.

In the last 30 years, the tight end position has changed the game of football. These players who were once considered extra blockers who could — maybe — catch a handful of passes have become true offensive weapons.

With that, we’ve seen a radical shift in how tight ends are viewed on every level. In the college game, that means players who may have been taller wide receivers in high school but also show the ability to pack on muscle become tight ends.

When you look at the teams that have won national championships in recent memory, it’s not hard to look at their rosters and pick out dynamic tight ends who helped them get to that level — here’s a look at the greatest college football tight ends in history.

20. Michael Mayer

John Locher / AP Photo

Born: July 6, 2001 (Independence, Kentucky)

High School: Covington Catholic High School (Park Hills, Kentucky)

College: Notre Dame

Years: 2020-22

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 265 pounds

Career highlights: Two-time AP All-American (2021, 2022), All-ACC (2020)

Bottom line: Recency bias … I don’t want to hear it. Believe what your eyes can see — there are two tight ends that just completed college football seasons in 2022 on this list.

Michael Mayer was pegged as a tight end who would dominate in college and in the NFL when he was still at Covington Catholic High in Park Hills, Kentucky. He delivered on that promise by setting Notre Dame’s career record for tight ends with 180 receptions — and doing so in just three seasons.

Mayer is also the school’s first consensus AP All-American at tight end since Ken MacAfee in 1976. He had over 800 receiving yards in each of his last two seasons and decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility to enter the 2023 NFL Draft.

19. Brent Jones

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Born: Feb. 12, 1963 (San Jose, California)

High School: Leland High School (San Jose, California)

College: Santa Clara

Years: 1982-85

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 230 pounds

Career highlights: NCAA Division II Team of the Quarter Century (2000), three-time All-WFC (1983-85), WFC Offensive Player of the Year (1985), AP All-American (1985), four-time Pro Bowl (1992-95), East-West Shrine Game (1985), three-time NFL All-Pro (1992-94), three-time Super Bowl champion (1993, 1995, 1996), College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Brent Jones came to Santa Clara as a lightly recruited wide receiver who also played on the baseball team. But he left as a revolutionary player for the tight end position, earning Western Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year and AP All-American honors in 1985.

Jones became a household name during his NFL career while catching passes from Joe Montana and Steve Young for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning three Super Bowls and earning three NFL All-Pro selections.

18. Hunter Henry

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Born: Dec. 7, 1994 (Little Rock, Arkansas)

High School: Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Arkansas)

College: Arkansas

Years: 2013-15

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 250 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2015), AP All-American (2015), three-time All-SEC (2013-15), Freshman All-American (2013), NFL All-Rookie Team (2016)

Bottom line: Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, didn’t even feature a tight end in its offense, so Hunter Henry actually played the position for the first time at the University of Arkansas … where the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder proved to be pretty darn good.

Henry won the John Mackey Award in 2015 and was a three-time All-SEC selection, but he’s probably best remembered during his college career for one of the craziest plays of all time — a blind lateral to teammate Alex Collins in overtime of a win over Ole Miss on 4th-and-25 that resulted in a 31-yard gain and set up the winning score.

17. Rich McGeorge

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Born: Sept. 14, 1948 (Roanoke, Virginia)

High School: Jefferson High School (Roanoke, Virginia)

College: Elon

Years: 1966-69

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 235 pounds

Career highlights: Three-time All-CVAC (1967-69), NAIA Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Tight ends were not considered a viable receiving option in the 1960s — despite the rules of football being essentially the same they are now — but Elon’s Rich McGeorge was a player out of time when it came to his position.

The first Elon player to make it to the College Football Hall of Fame, McGeorge set school career records for receptions (224), receiving yards (3,486) and touchdowns (31), along with most of the school’s single-season receiving records. He was selected as the No. 16 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, where he played all nine of his NFL seasons.

16. Harrison Bryant

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Born: April 23, 1998 (Macon, Georgia)

High School: John Milledge Academy (Milledgeville, Georgia)

College: Florida Atlantic

Years: 2016-19

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 230 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2019), AP All-American (2019), three-time All-Conference USA (2017-19), NFL All-Rookie Team (2020)

Bottom line: Florida Atlantic’s Harrison Bryant broke new ground as a senior in 2019 when he became the first player outside the Group of Five to win the John Mackey Award as the nation’s tight end after he racked up 65 receptions for 1,004 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Bryant was no one-year wonder, either, with 408 receiving yards as a sophomore and 662 receiving yards as a junior.

Bryant has started 21 games in three seasons for the Cleveland Browns since the franchise drafted him in the fourth round in 2020 and was an NFL All-Rookie Team pick that year.

15. Trey McBride

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Born: Nov. 22, 1999 (Greeley, Colorado)

High School: Fort Morgan High School (Fort Morgan, Colorado)

College: Colorado State

Years: 2018-21

Height/weight: 6-foot-3, 249 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2021), two-time AP All-American (2020, 2021), three-time All-Mountain West (2019-21)

Bottom line: Colorado State’s Trey McBride won the John Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end in 2021, but his most impressive college season may have been in 2020. That’s when the Fort Morgan, Colorado, product caught 22 passes for 330 receiving yards and four touchdowns, as the Rams only played four games that season because of the pandemic.

Mackey followed that up with 90 receptions for 1,121 yards in 2021 on the way to becoming Colorado State’s first unanimous All-American — all despite scoring just one touchdown.

14. Chase Coffman

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Born: Nov. 10, 1986 (Lee’s Summit, Missouri)

High School: Raymore-Peculiar High School (Peculiar, Missouri)

College: Missouri

Years: 2005-08

Height/weight: 6-foot-6, 250 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2008), AP All-American (2008), three-time All-Big 12 (2006-08)

Bottom line: Chase Coffman seemed like he was going to be a transcendent tight end during his time at the University of Missouri, where the Lee’s Summit, Missouri, native capped his career by winning the John Mackey Award as a senior in 2008. Coffman still holds the NCAA career record for receptions by a tight end with 247.

Coffman was a journeyman during his NFL career, playing eight seasons for six different teams.

13. Dan Ross

AP Photo

Born: Feb. 9, 1957 (Malden, Massachusetts)

Died: May 16, 2006, 49 years old (Haverhill, Massachusetts)

High School: Everett High School (Everett, Massachusetts)

College: Northeastern

Years: 1975-78

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 238 pounds

Career highlights: AP All-American (1978), Bulger Lowe Award (1978), NFL All-Pro (1981, 1982), Pro Bowl (1982), NFL All-Rookie Team (1979), All-USFL (1984), College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Over 40 years since he finished his All-American career at Northeastern, Dan Ross still holds school records for career receptions (143), single-season receptions (68), career receiving yards (2,343) and single-season receiving yards (988). He had two seasons with over 900 receiving yards at Northeastern as a junior and as a senior and had his No. 84 jersey retired immediately following his final game.

He was also a two-time NFL All-Pro with the Cincinnati Bengals, setting a Super Bowl record with 11 receptions for 104 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 1983. Ross became the first Northeastern player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He died in 2006, at 49 years old, after he collapsed following a jog.

12. Dennis Pitta

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Born: June 29, 1985 (Fresno, California)

High School: Moorpark High School (Moorpark, California)

College: BYU

Years: 2004, 2007-09

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 238 pounds

Career highlights: Two-time AP All-American (2008, 2009), three-time All-Mountain West (2007-09), Super Bowl champion (2013)

Bottom line: Dennis Pitta was a BYU walk-on wide receiver who converted to tight end during a grayshirt year in 2003. He was one of the team’s best players as a freshman in 2004 before he left school to go on a two-year mission in the Dominican Republic.

Pitta returned from his mission and became one of the greatest college tight ends of all time, setting the NCAA career record for a tight end with 2,901 receiving yards. He was named a unanimous AP All-American in 2009 and played seven seasons in the NFL, all with the Baltimore Ravens, which won a Super Bowl in 2013.

11. Heath Miller

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Born: Oct. 22, 1982 (Richlands, Virginia)

High School: Honaker High School (Honaker, VIrginia)

College: Virginia

Years: 2002-04

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 256 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2004), AP All-American (2004), two-time All-ACC (2003, 2004), Freshman All-American (2002), NFL All-Rookie Team (2005), two-time Pro Bowl (2009, 2012), two-time Super Bowl champion (2006, 2009)

Bottom line: There haven’t been a lot of great football highlights for Virginia fans to point to in the last 20 years — but Heath Miller’s time there is definitely one of them.

The Virginia native won the John Mackey Award as a junior in 2004 and set ACC career records for a tight end for receptions (144), receiving yards (1,703) and touchdowns (20), despite leaving school with one year of eligibility remaining.

Miller was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft and helped lead the team to two Super Bowl wins in 11 seasons.

10. Tony Gonzalez

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Born: Feb. 27, 1976 (Torrance, California)

High School: Huntington Beach High School (Huntington Beach, California)

College: University of California, Berkeley

Years: 1994-96

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 247 pounds

Career highlights: AP All-American (1996), All-Pac-10 (1996), 10-time NFL All-Pro (1999-04, 2006-08, 2012), 14-time Pro Bowl (1999-2008, 2010-13), NFL 2000s All-Decade Team, NFL 100th Anniversary Team, NFL All-Rookie Team (1997), Pro Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Many consider Tony Gonzalez to be the greatest tight end of all time, and he first gained notoriety during his time at Cal in the mid-1990s. He also helped lead the Golden Bears’ basketball team to the Sweet Sixteen as a junior in 1996 — the same year he wowed NFL scouts on the football field by catching 44 passes for 699 yards and five touchdowns.

Gonzalez left Cal with one year of eligibility remaining and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of 1997 NFL Draft. He played 17 seasons in the NFL and is the all-time leader in receiving yards and receptions for a tight end.

9. Dallas Clark

Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo

Born: June 12, 1979 (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

High School: Twin River Valley High School (Bode, Iowa)

College: Iowa

Years: 2000-02

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 255 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2002), AP All-American (2002), All-Big Ten (2002), NFL All-Pro (2009), Pro Bowl (2009), Super Bowl champion (2010), NFL All-Rookie Team (2003)

Bottom line: There was something thrilling about watching Dallas Clark play during his time at Iowa, then in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts catching passes from Peyton Manning. You have to admire a player who seems to play with absolutely no fear of anything.

Clark was the best player on Iowa’s 2002 team that went 11-2 and won the Big Ten championship. In an interesting twist, Clark played linebacker for Iowa before converting to tight end in 2001. He had 1,281 receiving yards in just two seasons, leaving school early for the NFL and ultimately helping the Colts win a Super Bowl in 2007.

8. Gordon Hudson

AP Photo

Born: June 22, 1962 (Everett, Washington)

Died: Sept. 27, 2021, 59 years old (San Jose, California)

High School: Brighton High School (Salt Lake City, Utah)

College: BYU

Years: 1980-83

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 231 pounds

Career highlights: Two-time AP All-American (1982, 1983), College Football Hall of Fame, All-USFL (1985)

Bottom line: BYU’s Gordon Hudson is just one of two tight ends to be named a unanimous AP All-American twice, alongside Oklahoma’s Keith Jackson. Hudson still holds NCAA career records for a tight end for catches per game (5.4) and receiving yards per game (75.3), and he set the single-game NCAA receiving record for tight ends with 13 receptions for 259 yards against archrival Utah in 1981.

Hudson had the great fortune of catching passes from a pair of future NFL star quarterbacks during his time at BYU — Jim McMahon for his first two seasons, followed by Steve Young for his last two seasons, in which Young was also named a unanimous AP All-American in 1983.

Hudson played two seasons in the USFL and one season in the NFL before he retired from football. He died in 2021, at 59 years old.

7. Kellen Winslow

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Born: Nov. 5, 1957 (East St. Louis, Illinois)

High School: East St. Louis Senior High School (East St. Louis, Illinois)

College: Missouri

Years: 1975-78

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 250 pounds

Career highlights: AP All-American (1978), two-time All-Big Eight (1977-78), four-time NFL All-Pro (1980-82, 1987), five-time Pro Bowl (1980-83, 1987), NFL 1980s All-Decade Team, NFL 75th Anniversary Team, NFL 100th Anniversary Team, College Football Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Kellen Winslow didn’t even play football until his senior year at powerhouse East St. Louis Senior High. But he turned that into a college career at Missouri, where he became a star in the Big Eight Conference, leading the league in touchdown receptions in 1977 and 1978.

With his talent and size, Winslow would have been a star in any era he played. In fact, he set NFL receiving records for tight ends that stood for over 30 years and finished with over 1,000 receiving yards three times, and he was a four-time NFL All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler in just nine NFL seasons. He’s a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.

6. Mark Andrews

Sue Ogrocki / AP Photo

Born: Sept. 6, 1995 (Scottsdale, Arizona)

High School: Desert Mountain High School (Scottsdale, Arizona)

College: Oklahoma

Years: 2015-17

Height/weight: 6-foot-5, 247 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2017), AP All-American (2017), three-time All-Big 12 (2015-17), three-time Pro Bowl (2019, 2021, 2022), NFL All-Pro (2021)

Bottom line: It’s hard to think of many college tight ends who have been more exciting to watch than Oklahoma’s Mark Andrews, who set state records as a wide receiver at Desert Mountain High in Scottsdale, Arizona, before switching positions in college.

Andrews got better in each of his three college seasons, capping things off as a junior in 2017, with 62 receptions for 958 yards and eight touchdowns on the way to winning the John Mackey Award.

Andrews was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round for the 2018 NFL Draft and made three Pro Bowls through his first five seasons and was an NFL All-Pro in 2021.

5. Kyle Pitts

John Raoux / AP Photo

Born: Oct. 6, 2000 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

High School: Archbishop Wood High School (Warminster, Pennsylvania)

College: Florida

Years: 2018-20

Height/weight: 6-foot-6, 245 pounds

Career highlights: John Mackey Award (2020), AP All-American (2020), two-time All-SEC (2019, 2020), NFL All-Rookie Team (2021), Pro Bowl (2021)

Bottom line: In 2020, Kyle Pitts had one of the great statistical seasons in Florida history for a tight end, with 43 receptions for 770 yards and 12 touchdowns. And that he did it in just eight games because of the pandemic-shortened season makes it even more incredible.

Pitts won the John Mackey Award in 2020 before leaving school early for the NFL Draft, where the Atlanta Falcons made the Pennsylvania native the No. 4 overall pick — the highest drafted tight end in NFL history.

4. Jay Novacek

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Born: Oct. 24, 1962 (Martin, South Dakota)

High School: Gothenburg High School (Gothenburg, Nebraska)

College: Wyoming

Years: 1981-84

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 234 pounds

Career highlights: All-WAC (1984), two-time NFL All-Pro (1991, 1992), three-time Super Bowl champion (1993, 1995, 1996), five-time Pro Bowl (1991-95), College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Jay Novacek started his career at Wyoming as a wide receiver before moving to tight end as a sophomore — neither were particularly appealing options on a team that ran the wishbone offense at the time.

Give credit to head coach Al Kincaid for incorporating Novacek into his offense in 1984, though, when he had 33 receptions for 745 yards and four touchdowns while setting the NCAA single-season record for yards per catch by a tight end (22.6) and earning All-American honors.

Novacek was a truly freakish athlete — he was the WAC decathlon champion and All-American in the decathlon and pole vault while competing in the 1984 Olympic trials in the decathlon. Novacek was a star on the next level as well, winning three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990s while making five Pro Bowls.

3. Ken MacAfee

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Born: Jan. 9, 1956 (Portland, Oregon)

High School: Brockton High School (Brockton, Massachusetts)

College: Notre Dame

Years: 1974-77

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 250 pounds

Career highlights: Three-time AP All-American (1975-77), National Champion (1977), Walter Camp Award (1977), College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Ken MacAfee was one of the most highly recruited tight ends ever after he led Brockton High to back-to-back Massachusetts state championships.

MacAfee didn’t let up once he got to college, either. He became a three-time All-American at Notre Dame while capping his career with a national championship alongside quarterback Joe Montana in 1977, the same year MacAfee was also third in Heisman Trophy voting.

In a testament to how little NFL players were being paid in the late 1970s, MacAfee retired from football instead of moving to offensive guard following two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. MacAfee went to dental school and moved back to Massachusetts, where he opened up his own practice.

2. Brock Bowers

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Born: Dec. 13, 2002 (Napa, California)

High School: Napa High School (Napa, California)

College: Georgia

Years: 2021-2023

Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 230 pounds

Career highlights: Two-time CFP National Champion (2021, 2022), John Mackey Award (2022), two-time AP All-American (2021, 2022), two-time All-SEC (2021, 2022), SEC Freshman of the Year (2021)

Bottom line: The Napa, California, native was one of the Bulldogs’ best players in his first two seasons, leading his school to back-to-back national championships and making back-to-back All-American Teams, along with winning the John Mackey Award in 2022. In 2021, he was the first tight end to lead a national championship team in receiving yards since Oklahoma’s Keith Jackson in 1985.

Bowers had 119 receptions for 1,824 yards and 20 touchdowns in his two seasons but also rushed for four touchdowns. There’s little he can’t do on a football field, which will make him fun to watch in the NFL.

1. Keith Jackson

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Born: April 19, 1965 (Little Rock, Arkansas)

High School: Parkview High School (Little Rock, Arkansas)

College: Oklahoma

Years: 1984-87

Height/weight: 6-foot-2, 258 pounds

Career highlights: Two-time AP All-American (1986, 1987), National Champion (1985), NFL All-Rookie Team (1988), six-time Pro Bowl (1988-90, 1992, 1994, 1996), four-time NFL All-Pro (1988-90, 1992, 1996), NFC Rookie of the Year (1988), Super Bowl champion (1997), NCAA Silver Anniversary Award (2013), College Football Hall of Fame

Bottom line: Oklahoma’s Keith Jackson is the shortest tight end to make the list at 6-foot-2 — that’s probably spotting him an inch — but it would have been almost unfair if he’d been any taller.

Widely considered one of the greatest high school football players from his time at Parkview High in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jackson went 42-5-1 during his four seasons at Oklahoma and is one of just two tight ends in NCAA history to earn unanimous AP All-American honors twice. He won a national championship with Oklahoma as a sophomore in 1985 when he caught a 71-yard touchdown pass in an Orange Bowl win over Penn State.

The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Jackson in 1988, and in his nine seasons play professional football, he went to the Pro Bowl five times and won Super Bowl XXXI with the Green Bay Packers.