Biggest risers from the 2022 college all-star events:

Colorado State tight-end Trey McBride

TE Trey McBride, Colorado State

This young man has been one of the most productive tight ends in college football over the last three years and, often times, has been the primary option for the Rams offense. Over 16 games between 2019 and 2020, he caught 67 passes for 890 yards and eight touchdowns, before having the most productive season of any college TE as a senior, when he hauled in 90 balls for 1121 yards (even if he only reached the end-zone once) leading to first-team All-American honors.

McBride came in an inch shorter than expected (just 1/8 above 6’3”) and one pound short of the 250 mark. While having a couple of extra inches of height might be beneficial in terms of reaching out for the ball and getting his hands to a spot a defender can’t reach, that squatty build might open up some work at fullback or H. His physicality was on display as a blocker, widening the C-gap on the front-side and kicking out the end-man away from the action. You also saw him collapse the backside and open up a lane for the ball-carrier to cut it all the way back a couple of times at practice. Even in pass-pro, he had a couple really impressive reps against all the edge/rush backer talent down in Mobile. He was able to stay in front of them.

He showed off his willingness to get physical when lowering the pads after the catch, but also as a route-runner, leaning into contact and using subtle push-offs to create some separation. And the mobility in his hips was not only apparent when rolling them through blocks, but also when he sat down and changed directions on whip/return routes a couple of times. His two most impressive catches probably came against the top safety down at the Senior Bowl in Baylor’s Jalen Pitre, who he literally threw off himself to gain inside access and catch the ball at full extension, despite the DB swiping at him. Then, of course, he hauled in an awesome contested catch on day two of team drills, where Kenny Pickett kind of just threw it up there and McBride grabbed it off the defender’s helmet. I love the way he freezes the ball with his eyes once it gets there and he seems pretty unbothered by defenders trying to reach around and rip the ball out of his hands.

With that level of production and having won the Mackey award for the best tight-end in the country, there wasn’t as much to gain as for some of these FCS prospects for example, and I went into the week with him as my TE1, but unlike some other guys with this opportunity at different positions, he clearly established himself as that guy at the top. He was voted National TE of the week and capped things off with an easy touchdown on leak route into the flats off a split zone fake in the game.