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The Basics
Will Randle is a 6’3, 220-pound tight end from Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Randle is a three-star prospect in the class of 2023 according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings. The 247 Sports Composite rankings also rank Randle as the number 25th player in Louisiana and the number 34th ranked tight end in the nation. During his recruiting process, Randle received many offers including schools like Texas, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Kentucky. Randle decided to end his recruitment by committing to the University of Texas on June 19th.
Roster Outlook
According to ourlads.com the current tight ends on the Texas roster are Jaleel Billingsley (SR/TR), Gunna Helm (SO), Ja’Tavion Sanders (SO), and Brayden Liebrock (RS JR).
Film Evaluation
After an evaluation of Randle’s film from his sophomore year, the first thing that pops out is his downfield blocking ability. He’s a legit run blocker that has a good understanding of blocking schemes. The three-star prospect has sure hands and specializes in short and intermediate passing plays. Randle has underrated footwork in and out of his breaks while running routes. He always finds space exceptionally well against zone coverage. The physicality is there as well, Randle played both sides of the ball his sophomore year at TE and DE.
Things I believe he can improve on are his step off the line of scrimmage when running his routes, he’s also a bit of a tweener at the tight end position. So he could gain a few more pounds of muscle once he’s on campus in Austin. I also feel he should challenge himself and work on possibly becoming a better down-the-field deep threat.
An accurate player comparison I feel would be Nick O’Leary, Florida State’s TE-H (’11-’14). They both have a similar build, O’Leary at 6’3 and 238 lbs while at Florida State. Also, both players have the ability to block out of the backfield.
More Sports News
Projections and Things to Watch
I project Randle to come in as a freshman next year either number 3 or 4 on the depth chart. He also could receive a lot of snaps having the ability to play H-back out of the backfield. I project him starting or at least being a major contributor to the team by his sophomore year. I believe he can develop into that Nick O’Leary type of role for a good football team.
It is worth noting that Randle is a high school teammate of five-star QB Arch Manning. As it has been well documented, Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian have been in strong pursuit of landing Manning’s services. Certainly, taking a commitment from one of Manning’s best blockers and close friends in Randle is an intelligent recruiting move by the Longhorns staff. Randle is a quality, high major prospect on his own, but being teammates with the top-rated recruit in the class of 2023 certainly didn’t hurt his marketability to major programs. It will be interesting to see if Randle’s connection to Arch will be a major factor in where Manning decides to attend college.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
