Oklahoma Sooners tight end Davon Mitchell will be leaving the program via the transfer portal, according to multiple reports on Friday. The former blue-chip prospect out of the 2024 recruiting class was a big win for tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and the Sooners, but he'll leave Norman having never played a down.
Mitchell will enter the portal when it opens later this month. The spring portal window, which runs from April 16-25, will also allow OU to replace Mitchell with another tight end to add some depth to a position that has been poor for the last two seasons under Finley. Mitchell was thought to be the eventual answer, but Oklahoma will have to look elsewhere for production in 2025.
So what is OU's outlook at the tight end position after the latest roster move? Mitchell's exit is one of many changes to the group this season. The Sooners are left with seven tight ends on the roster, with plenty of new faces. Bauer Sharp and Jake Roberts were the primary contributors a season ago, but both have moved on, forcing another regroup at tight end.
Oklahoma brings in true freshman Trynae Washington from the 2025 recruiting class, who was a four-star prospect out of Carl Albert High School. OU also added three players from the portal in Kennesaw State's Carson Kent, Louisiana Tech's John Locke Jr., and Pittsburg State's Will Huggins. Huggins spent time at Kansas before playing for Pittsburg State. Those players will be joining returners Kade McIntyre and Kaden Helms. Jaren Kanak moved to tight end this offseason in an attempt to jump-start the position.
As the Sooners switch to a new offensive scheme under new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, it's unclear what role the tight ends will have. Arbuckle runs an Air Raid offense that has similar traits as former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley's did. That scheme used the position in a tight end/fullback/h-back role that was a bit of a Swiss Army Knife for defenses to deal with. Those players lined up in the backfield, in the slot, split out wide or in-line, wherever Riley needed them to be.
Over the last three seasons under coordinators Jeff Lebby and Seth Littrell, the position has been used in more of a traditional tight end sense, blocking on run plays and catching passes over the middle of the field, mostly lining up in-line or in the slot. But over the last two years, the tight ends have been a glaring weakness for the OU offense, something Arbuckle will need to find a way to scheme to his advantage this year, regardless of how he uses the position.
Of the transfer portal newcomers, Kent was the most productive at his previous stop. His role figures to increase with Mitchell's exit from the team. McIntyre and Helms are homegrown players who have waited their turns for the past couple of seasons, and Kanak switched positions for a reason. Clearly, the coaching staff has a vision for him, or that move wouldn't have been made.
No single one of those players will be able to have the impact that players like Brayden Willis or Jeremiah Hall did. Still, the Sooners may use a committee approach to get production from the tight end position this year for the first time since 2022. As Oklahoma looks for a return to form offensively after a disastrous 2024 season, perhaps Arbuckle can ...
