Coming into the 2024 season, Penn State knows its best tight end on the roster will be Tyler Warren. Some might even go so far as to suggest he is the best tight end in the Big Ten. And while it remains to be seen if it will be true or not, Warren is officially on the radar for the conversation about the nation’s best college tight end.
Warren was named on the watch list for the 2024 John Mackey Award, which is presented to the nation’s best tight end in college football. The award is presented by the Nassau County Sports Commission and is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, who was a standout for Syracuse from 1960-1962.
Warren is entering his fifth season at Penn State. Last year, Warren caught a career-high 34 passes for 422 yards with seven touchdowns. Warren was Penn State’s second-leading receiver in 2023 and is the team’s leading receiver returning in 2024 (wide receiver KeAndre Lambert Smith was Penn State’s leading receiver in 2023; Lambert-Smith has transferred to Auburn).
Penn State has never had a Mackey Award winner since the award was first presented in 2000. The first recipient of the national award was Tim Stratton of Purdue. Brock Bowers of Georgia won each of the last two seasons to become the first two-time winner of the award, and obviously the first to do so in back-to-back seasons.
T.J. Hockenson of Iowa was the most recent winner of the Mackey Award from the Big Ten, winning the award in 2018.
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