Former Cal TE Jack Endries signs with Texas

The Longhorns addressed arguably the team’s biggest need by landing a proven contributor at tight end.

Entering the offseason, the Texas Longhorns knew the team needed to replace starter snaps at the tight end position with Gunnar Helm heading to the NFL and now they have done just that.

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, former Cal Golden Bears tight end Jack Endries has signed with the Longhorns following an official visit to Austin on Thursday.

The former walk on has two years of eligibility remaining.

A Danville (Calif.) Monte Vista product, Endries was a three-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class ranked as the No. 106 tight end and No. 170 player in California, according to 247Sports. Despite holding 17 offers, including from two service academies, a number of Ivy League schools, as well as Colorado State, Fresno State, San Jose State, and UNLV, Endries decided to walk on at Cal.

The lack of high-level offers is surprising given the verified testing numbers for Endries in high school — a 4.68 40-yard dash, a 4.49 shuttle, and a particularly impressive 36.2-inch vertical. Perhaps the concern was that Endries was caught between positions with a reported weight of 215 pounds.

The production was certainly there, too, as Endries totaled 77 receptions for 1,055 yards receiving and 15 touchdown catches over 16 games as a junior and senior as part of a three-sport background.

Endries made an impact for the Golden Bears as a redshirt freshman in 2023 with 35 receptions for 407 yards receiving with two touchdown catches in 13 games while leading the nation’s tight ends with 859 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, earning first-team (College Football Network), second-team (The Athletic), and honorable mention (College Football News) Freshman All-American honors.

As a redshirt sophomore, the 6’4, 240-pounder recorded 56 receptions for 623 yards and two touchdowns with a 57-yard touchdown catch against Miami and an impressive performance against Pitt with eight receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. Endries set his career high with nine receptions against North Carolina State while going over 100 yards for the second time as a collegian.

The area for growth for Endries is as a run blocker with a poor grade of 48.2, according to PFF, but he was strong as a pass blocker with an above-average grade of 77.1 with only one quarterback hurry allowed in 88 pass-blocking snaps.

Endries split his time between lining up as an in-line tight end, as an H-back and in the slot with a small number of snaps out wide. Targeting Endries was an efficient decision for the Cal offense with his 56 receptions coming on 61 targets, including nine catches on 12 contested targets.

Endries mostly worked underneath with an average depth of target of 5.0 yards, but did have 350 yards after the catch with an average of 6.3 yards after the catch per reception on his average of 11.1 yards per reception.

Of the 56 catches by Endries, 33 went for first downs, but only 11 catches came on third down with eight moving the chains for Cal.

The 57-yard touchdown catch by Endries came on a fake bubble screen that drew three defenders, including the player in coverage on Endries, who flashed the speed in the open field that made him underrated as a recruit, as he did on a 20-yard reception in that game.

With six missed tackles forced by Endries in 2023 and four in 2024, he tended to pick up the available yards on his catches rather than showing the change-of-direction ability to elude defenders or the strength and balance to break tackles. One catch on a tight end screen was particularly notable in that regard when he had a chance to create an explosive gain, but lost his balance after minimal contact and went down.

One of the best attributes that Endries shows on film is his sure hands — his drop rate went from four drops in 2023, a drop rate of 10.3 percent, to one drop for a drop rate of 1.3 percent in 2024. The mechanics are clean, his hands look soft, he looks comfortable extending outside the frame of his body, and he’s capable of securing catches in traffic, a critical skill because Cal often asked him to operate in the short passing game.

Considering the wide gap between a Golden Bears offensive coordinator who was fired and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian’s ability to scheme open his tight ends, including on a number of screen plays, there’s some untapped upside for Endries even if he doesn’t improve his ability to force missed tackles because Sarkisian will create open space for him to operate in if he decides to transfer to Texas.

Once Endries hit the portal, Thamel reported that he would be visiting Austin to see Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns and from the looks of it they did not let him leave uncommitted given the need at the position. It’s a truism of the portal for Texas that if players leave without pledging, they aren’t coming to Austin, and that held true once again.

The tight end position is a key cog in Sarkisan’s offensive scheme, and Texas has produced two NFL-caliber tight ends in back-to-back seasons in Helm and Ja’Tavion Sanders. Endries certainly possesses the skill set that could turn him into a weapon for Arch Manning in 2025.

The Longhorns recently landed Emmett Mosley V from Stanford in the transfer portal and now they go to the other side of the rivalry and land Endries. Once sworn enemies will now be teammates in Austin when the ball gets teed up later this year.

With the addition of Endries, the Sarkisian and his staff continue to address needs aggressively via the transfer portal. Keep your heads on a swivel, because they may not be done just yet and, like I said earlier with Lavon Johnson, things can change quickly in recruiting with remaining needs at defensive tackle and place kicker.