89 Days to Purdue Football: Brycen Hopkins

Winning individual position awards for Purdue football players is rare. Travis Dorsch won the Ray Guy Award. Drew Brees won the Maxwell Award. Tim Stratton won the Mackey Award for the nation’s best tight end. Today’s player could match Stratton by the end of the season.

Brycen Hopkins - Sr.

Nashville, TN (Ensworth HS)

6’5”, 245 pounds

Tight End

2019 Projection: Starter at Tight End

Having a tight end as a safety valve is always an asset to any football offense. Having one as good as Hopkins is even better. For three years now Hopkins has been a great asset to the offense. As a redshirt freshman in 2016 he only had 10 receptions for 183 yards, but four of his receptions went for touchdowns. The next year, in his first year under Jeff Brohm, he flourished with 25 receptions for 349 yards and three touchdowns. Last year he had just two touchdowns, but he had a career best 34 receptions for 583 yards. That was enough to be third on the team behind only Rondale Moore and Isaac Zico.

Pro scouts love Brycen’s pedigree, as his dad was a two-time Pro Bowler and started 188 games over 12 years in the NFL as an offensive tackle. Most draft boards this early have him as one of the top TE prospects in the country, so a good senior season can make him a lot of money. His ceiling is First Team all-Big Ten and Mackey Award Finalist (if not winner).