Penn State began its Thursday morning practice with dynamic warmups as a team before breaking out into position groups.
Just three players trotted to the tight end area with coach Taylor Mouser, including potential starter Benjamin Brahmer. With Gabe Burkle, Andrew Rappleyea and Brian Kortovich out, the group moved quickly through an assortment of drills, mixed between blocking and catching.
“We were rolling, for sure,” Brahmer said after practice. “But it’s good to get the conditioning and get more reps for the guys that don’t know the offense right now. So it’s always good to get more reps and make sure we know what we’re doing.”
Brahmer is already familiar with the offense, having played at Iowa State the previous three seasons, including over 1,000 total snaps. But this spring has been his healthiest, and head coach Matt Campbell took notice.
“He’s almost 258 [pounds] right now; he’s as strong and physical as he’s been,” Campbell said. “And I really thought so far that he’s had a tremendous spring as a mover, as a point-of-attack football player.”
That was a point of emphasis this offseason. Though Brahmer has 75 receptions, 977 receiving yards and nine touchdowns to his name, blocking was the next step in his development, and Mouser challenged him to improve.
To help, Mouser showed the tight ends “teach tape,” including game film of former Nittany Lion Brenton Strange, who he called “one of the best blockers in the NFL.”
Listed at 6-foot-7, Brahmer is tied for tallest on the team. Blocking requires a stable base, and as the saying goes, “low man wins.” While size and length give him an edge in the receiving game, particularly in the red zone and on contested catches, it can be detrimental to run blocking.
Still, Brahmer called it “fun to play football when you’re a little bit bigger than somebody else.”
Regardless of where Brahmer slots in on the depth chart, he’ll see plenty of playing time, and improving as a blocker will only increase that.
In Mouser’s offense, which utilized 2.09 tight ends per offensive snap last season with the Cyclones, establishing the run is the first priority, followed by creating explosives in the passing game.
“(Mouser is) a smash-mouth guy. Definitely likes to have fun,” Brahmer said. “We have fun in our meetings, but he’s also a really stingy coach and focuses on the details, like I said and like we can trust in him, and we know how hard he works for us.”
