The Summer Reading series began with the quarterback position and has since covered the linebackers, receivers, running backs, defensive line, and bandits. Now, the focus turns to the Virginia football team’s tight ends and H-Backs.

While a traditional tight end lines up at one end or the other of the offensive line, the H-Back (often played by a tight end) lines up behind the offensive line. The idea behind the H-Back is to allow the offense more options in terms of play calls within the same personnel grouping. A good H-Back is often more athletic than a traditional tight end, a good blocker in the run game, capable of maybe even running the ball himself, and able to catch passes out of the backfield. It is a hybrid role meant to keep the defense guessing and create mismatches between the H-back and a slower linebacker or smaller defensive back.

With Jelani Woods now in the NFL after being drafted in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, the Virginia football team has just one returning tight end that caught a pass last season and that is Grant Misch. In 12 games (seven starts), Misch had four receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown in 2021. With the departure of Woods, there are massive shoes to fill as he accounted for 44 receptions, 598 yards, and 8 touchdowns last season. Misch will likely be at the forefront of the efforts to fill some of the void left by Woods.

Veterans

Only two of Virginia’s seven tight ends will enter 2022 with more than seven appearances in their collegiate careers. Misch is the most experienced of the group having played in 34 of Virginia’s last 36 games going across the last three seasons, in addition to the one appearance he made as a freshman at defensive end before he redshirted for the rest of the 2019 season. Misch’s biggest spotlight moment in 2021 came when he made the game-winning catch (after the converted PAT) at Louisville in the final 30 seconds.

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