Can we even call him a tight end?
There's nothing tight about Baylor guard LaQuan McGowan, a 6-7, 410-pound junior, is taking snaps at tight end and H-back for the Bears in the spring practice. How big is this development?
“His hands are about as big as my leg, so I can pretty much put it wherever, and he can snag it out of the air,” Baylor quarterback Seth Russell told the Waco Herald-Tribune .
So is this a gimmick or a game-changer?
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Here are five things you should know about McGowan and the impact this position shift could have in 2015.
He scored that TD in the Cotton Bowl
McGowan made a name for himself with an 18-yard “fat guy touchdown” in the Cotton Bowl. That caught everybody off guard, including play-by-play man Dave Pasch. Maybe that’s because McGowan switched his No. 60 jersey to No. 80. This is still easy to watch:
He's a great story
McGowan attended high school at Boys Ranch High School in Boys Ranch, Texas, where he starred in football, basketball and track. He was 6-7, 360 pounds and wore size 21 shoes in high school.
But there’s more to his story than that. Check out the work Fox 14 News (El Paso, Texas) did on McGowan in high school.
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He's an athlete
Baylor coach Art Briles told the Waco Tribune-Herald that McGowan could play some H-back and tight end this season.
“We’re looking at him as kind of a slot and tight end type of guy,” Briles said. “He can certainly help us in the run game in those situations. The way we’re looking at it is we’ve got three games in nonconference to kind of feel it out and see what he can do and teach him what to do in live action.”
Don’t think McGowan can pull it off?
He could be a trend setter ...
McGowan isn’t the only big man who made a play last season bowl season. Oklahoma State defensive lineman James Castleman scored a one-yard touchdown and made a 48-yard catch in the Cactus Bowl last season.
If it works, other teams are going to start using big men to make plays.
And a rules-changer
Briles already touched on an issue that could be coming next.
"The hardest thing is practicing with him,” Briles told the Waco Herald-Tribune. “Because we don't want to get anyone injured.”
That’s not even game action. Think of it this way. Did your Pee-Wee Football League have a weight limit for skill position players? Defensive coordinators aren't going to like this "fat guy TDs" devolopment at all.
The more “fat guy TDs” we see, the more this discussion about a potential rules change will follow.
