Georgia Tech Bye Week Report Cards: Tight Ends

The leading tight end for the Yellow Jackets is Luke Harpring with four catches for 37 yards.

Harpring has the best receiving grade on the team with a 59.9 grade this season. Harpring posted some of his best receiving games against Colorado, 68.5, and 65.1 against Wake Forest. At times when the Yellow Jackets struggle on offense, Harping could be a guy they can lean on to get those drive starters going or move the sticks. He’s shown in games that he can be dependable and should have a larger role at

J.T. Byrne has been a key blocker for the Yellow Jackets this season and has been key in springing explosive pass plays for Georgia Tech. Byrne is the highest-ranked blocker at the tight end position for the Yellow Jackets with a 48.7 pass blocking grade. He also has a catch on the season for Georgia Tech. He is primarily used as a blocker.

Josh Beetham has the second-highest offensive grade on the team overall with a 51.5 grade. He’s only allowed one hurry while he has been blocking for the Yellow Jackets this season. Bettham registered a 17-yard catch against Wake Forest last weekend.

Brett Seither has been pretty decent at blocking in the run game and has the highest grade of the tight ends with a 55.1 run blocking grade. Seither has two catches for 30 yards this season for the Yellow Jackets.

Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner talked earlier this week about how the position group is performing this season.

“Yeah, you know, I think the group has done everything we asked them to do. You know, we try to play multiple guys at that position. Brett Seither was out this past week, so we're only able to play three. They're not going to show up much in the stat sheet right now, but they allow us to do a lot of things that we want to do offensively with, you know, the shifts, the formations, the different pictures, you know, the way we want to block defensive ends, arc defensive ends, all those different things,” said Faulkner.

“Those guys are a huge part of what we do. We'll continue to use them the way we have been down the stretch, and like I said, right now they haven't shown up much in the stat sheet, although the other day there were three catches amongst the position. That’s something you would want to see somewhere between four and seven every week. It just really depends on how the defense plays them. They're a big part of our offense.”

There is not a lot to write home about with this group, with the Yellow Jackets. They have done their job, but the numbers aren’t elite in the receiving category or blocking in the pass or run. They are very pedestrian and average. Regardless, they’ve done a good enough job, but there is more they can do to help out the passing game, especially with the slow starts the Yellow Jackets have had early in games. If the tight ends can get going, it can help the team moving forward.

Grade: C