2016 Texas Longhorns Football Recruiting Class Evaluation: TE

Tight End (1)

The Longhorns landed Peyton Aucoin in July of 2015 and held on to the New Orleans athlete while pursuing his teammate Irv Smith to the bitter end (losing him to Alabama before National Signing Day).  Depending on who you ask, in the new offense, the TE position is 1. an irrelevance 2. a necessary role player and situational asset 3. has the potential to be Tyler Eifert.  Some range in there.  I think #2 is the safest bet.

Peyton Aucoin- 6-4, 250

Aucoin is a blocking tight end whose upside will be determined by how determined he is to hit the weight room and layer size and strength on to a big frame. He's still growing into his body and I believe his best realization as a TE will be around 270, but his best realization as an overall player could very well be as a 300 pound offensive tackle. Aucoin is a role player - he's at Texas to block people.  He caught a single ball his senior season in a passing offense that gained around 260 yards per game (but it was a 7 yard touchdown).

Unlike a Geoff Swaim, he hasn't shown consistent ability to play H-back, but that doesn't mean he lacks the capacity. There are some diamond set looks with him as a lead blocker in his film.  Brother Martin may have simply preferred to have him to set the edge with his hand in the ground.  Aucoin uses his size and athleticism to good advantage against smaller opponents - stalking and overwhelming them in space and driving people on down blocks.  I think he's some time away from being able to handle Emmanuel Ogbah on an outside zone run.

Candidly, I thought Aucoin's junior year film was more impressive than his senior year display. I don't know how to account for that.  I suspect it's not a developmental curve reaching capacity.  I think it may be an athlete who wants to define himself as a TE limiting his growth.  I think he should drive his weight upwards and see what happens.