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The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
Tight ends could be focal point of Penn State offense
- Story byThe Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
- Tight ends could be focal point of Penn State offense
At the start of preseason camp, Penn State coach Matt Campbell said he would be disappointed if 12 personnel — a scheme featuring one back and two tight ends — was not the Nittany Lions ' most-used grouping.
The new coach said 13 personnel was not out of the question, nor was rolling out four tight ends, which drew smiles from his loaded tight end room.
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And with what Penn State has at the position, including two on the Mackey Award preseason watch list and the Nittany Lions' top returning target, no one can really blame Campbell for wanting to use as many tight ends as possible.
"We're super excited about that group," Campbell said Thursday. "Those guys have made all sorts of plays in practice."
Andrew Rappleyea , a redshirt junior, missed spring ball after emerging as Penn State's top tight end in the second half of the 2025 season. He finished with 20 catches, including three touchdowns. He is joined in what should be a loaded group by Iowa State transfers Benjamin Brahmer and Gabe Burkle , both named to the preseason watch list for the nation's top tight end.
Brahmer, a 6-foot-7 senior, was an All-Big 12 pick in 2025 after catching 37 passes, including six scores. Burkle, a 6-foot-6 redshirt senior, caught 26 passes a year ago.
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While Rappleyea has nursed some injuries midway through camp, expectations are for him to live up to the tradition established by current NFL starters such as Tyler Warren , Mike Gesicki , Theo Johnson and Brenton Strange .
Even with so many new faces in the room, the relationships were built quickly, especially on the golf course over the summer. Brahmer said he is the best golfer of the group, and the rest agreed, even with Brahmer suggesting Rappleyea would tout himself as the best.
"We created those relationships, got just real tight, really fast," Rappleyea said. "We're in a good position heading into the season. Everybody knows each other really well. It was a lot of merging parts, but now it's, 'We're here. We're back. It's a new era,' and I think everybody's ready to go."
"We've been able to come together quickly to get to know each other," Brahmer said. "We all can play on any given Saturday, and we all can be in there at once. So it's gonna be really fun."
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Burkle and Brahmer, standouts at Iowa State under Campbell, said the choice to follow their coach to Happy Valley was an easy one.
"I knew right away that I was going to come to Penn State. I didn't talk to any other schools," Burkle said. "There was no negotiating going on. I was obviously happy and grateful to just be able to come here with the staff that was at Iowa State. It's important to me to finish out with the people I started with. This is my fifth year, my last year of college football. So, you know, I want to finish with the people I started with."
And about running four tight ends?
"I'm all for it," Rappleyea said. "Just a quarterback, running back, the O-Line and us. We will move the ball."
