Georgia Tech tight ends expected to do it all in offensive scheme
The collection of Georgia Tech tight ends in 2025 is an eclectic group.
There are three seniors playing their last season of college football, all of whom began their collegiate careers elsewhere. There are four freshmen, two who redshirted in 2024 and two who arrived on campus earlier this year.
The pecking order among those seven tight ends isn’t cut and dried, which could be a seen as a positive.
“I’m excited. Last year, if you go back, we kind of had some guys banged up and nicked up. This year, I do feel like we got a deeper (group),” Tech tight ends coach Nathan Brock said. “I got a handful of guys I feel comfortable going in there and playing and competing, so I feel like the depth in the (group) is good. I feel like those guys come every day and compete, and I think as a coach it’s exciting to have guys that compete and push each other every day because it makes the whole (group) better.”
Brock, named this week to 247Sports’ “30Under30″ list of top young coaches in the game, is starting his fifth season at Tech and second as the program’s full-time tight ends coach. He also worked with the position as a graduate assistant in 2023 and had a large part in the development of former Tech tight ends Jackson Hawes, Avery Boyd and Dylan Leonard, to name a few.
For the 2025 season, Brock brought in J.T. Byrne from California. Byrne (6-foot-5, 265 pounds) has never caught a pass in a college game and only played 63 offensive snaps over nine games in 2024, but he is expected to be a major part of Tech’s offense starting in the opener Aug. 29 at Colorado.
“The beauty about our offense is we get to do so many things and Coach Faulkner (Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner) sets up the tight end in such great ways,” said Byrne, who also spent two seasons at Oregon State before transferring to Cal. “With that being said, I’m obviously wanting and willing to do whatever is best for the team, whether that be in the run game or the pass game or the pass-protection game. I think we just run multiple different things throughout a drive, throughout a game, so to have that idea and have that mindset that you want to be a Swiss Army knife in this offense.
“I’ve been trying to just diversify myself as much as I can. I know that’s what we pride ourselves on in the tight end (meeting) room. With Coach Faulkner’s offense, we gotta be ready for anything.”
Alongside Byrne, in terms of age and experience, are Brett Seither and Josh Beetham.
Beetham made three receptions in 2024, his first with the Jackets after three seasons at Michigan, which included the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship run. Seither was a freshman six years ago for Georgia and transferred to Tech ahead of the 2023 season. That year he made seven catches (four for touchdowns) for 101 yards, then missed the 2024 season with a knee injury.
Seither also watched from the sideline during Tech’s spring practice but said he’ll be ready to roll come the end of this month.
“I’m pumped. Not only me, but the whole (group) has a lot of opportunities ahead of them,” Seither said. “We got a great group of guys. (Faulkner’s) got a great game plan, and we’re gonna use the tight ends a lot in a lot of different ways. We’ll definitely be able to help the team, so I’m super excited about that.”
Among Tech’s quartet of freshmen, Luke Harpring is in position to make the most impact. The Marist School graduate and son of Tech hoops legend Matt Harpring made three catches for 43 yards in four games last season and logged 25 snaps on offense and 18 on special teams.
Of Tech’s 17 touchdown receptions in 2024, three went to tight ends — down from five the season before. But touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards won’t always tell the story for Brock’s players, and that’s a constant point he drives home to his unit.
“We ask you to do a lot at the tight end position: catch balls, block in the run game, pass protect — a little bit of everything. So you’ve gotta be really specialized in what you do and then you gotta do it with a tremendous amount of pride,” Brock said. “From a game-planning standpoint from other teams, I want our group to be feared: feared how they block in the run game, feared how they pass protect and then feared how they can run behind them and catch the ball.
“Because we do it all, I want teams to look at that group and say, ‘Hey, we gotta account for them in all facets of the game.’ ”
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