FootballScoop is proud to announce that Ty Howle (Penn State) is the 2024 FootballScoop Tight Ends Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf.
In 2020, Tyler Warren arrived to Happy Valley as the 21st-ranked tight end and 543rd-ranked overall player in his class. After four seasons under Howle, he'll leave as the top player at his position and one of the most decorated Nittany Lions in program history.
Warren's 5-year career shows the ideal progression for a college football player. After appearing in two games in a shortened 2020 season, Warren appeared in all 13 games in 2021 while starting none, collecting five catches and one touchdown along the way. Warren was primarily a backup again in 2022, playing in 12 games with three starts while catching 10 passes and scoring three touchdowns.
Warren moved into the starting lineup in 2023, hauling in 34 grabs for 422 yards and seven touchdowns -- enough to earn him a Third Team All-Big Ten nod and a spot on the Mackey Award watch list to begin the 2024 campaign.
Then came 2024. Heading into a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Fiesta Bowl, Warren has caught 92 passes for 1,095 yards and six touchdowns. Warren smashed Penn State's previous record for receptions (67) and receiving yards (808) by a tight end, and he's closing in on Allen Robinson's overall single-season record of 97 grabs. He also ranks fifth among all players in catches and 13th in receiving yards.
Warren's capstone was the USC game. Trailing 20-6 at halftime, Warren nearly single-handedly willed the Nittany Lions to a double overtime road win by snaring a Big Ten-tight end record 17 passes for 224 yards with a touchdown grab. On the year, Warren has caught seven or more passes seven times and topped the 100-yard mark on four occasions. He's also run the ball 24 times for 197 yards and four touchdowns and thrown six passes for 35 yards and a touchdown. He's set the Penn State record for career touchdowns as a tight end with 22.
Warren won the Mackey Award as college football's top tight end and earned a spot on the Sporting News's and FWAA's All-America teams.
Elsewhere at the position, junior Khalil Dinkins caught 12 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman Luke Reynolds added six grabs for 88 yards and a score.
A four-year letter-winner as a Penn State offensive lineman, Howle started coaching as a GA at NC State in 2014. He spent 2016-19 at Western Illinois as the offensive line coach, rising to become assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator, before returning to his alma mater in 2020 as an offensive analyst. He was promoted to tight ends coach in 2021 and to co-offensive coordinator the following year.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Jeff Banks [Texas], Alex Bayer [Bowling Green], Steve Casula [Michigan], Joe Cox [Ole Miss], Todd Hartley [Georgia] and Howle) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Tight Ends Coach of the Year award are Todd Hartley (Georgia, 2021 and '23) and Freddie Whittingham (Utah, 2022).
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