The Penn State Nittany Lions reached the college football semifinals before losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. One of the biggest factors on the Nittany Lions offense during the 2024 college football season was tight end Tyler Warren.
Warren was selected 14th overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2025 NFL Draft. With the star tight end onto the NFL, Penn State will be looking for a new star at the tight end position. Sophomore tight end Luke Reynolds has a chance to be a breakout star in the Nittany Lions offense during the 2025 college football season as well.
College Football Analyst Lists Penn State Nittany Lions Tight End Luke Reynolds As Potential Breakout Candidate For Sophomore Season
With Warren out of the picture, quarterback Drew Allar is going to need a new tight end to rely on for the 2025 college football season. Foxsports.com writer Michael Cohen listed 10 different potential breakout players for the 2025 college football season. Cohen listed tight end Reynolds on Penn State as a potential breakout candidate.
Cohen said about Reynolds,
“More than any other offensive player on this list, Reynolds’ inclusion is rooted almost exclusively in projection and anecdotal evidence rather than on-field production given his limited role last fall. The ubiquitous presence of All-American tight end Tyler Warren, who caught 104 passes for 1,233 yards and eight touchdowns to lead Penn State in all three categories, not to mention his 26 carries for 218 yards and four rushing scores as a wildcat quarterback, meant that additional opportunities for Reynolds and position mate Khalil Dinkins (14 catches, 122 yards, 2 TDs) were difficult to find last fall.
Though Reynolds appeared in all 16 games as the Nittany Lions reached the College Football Playoff semifinals, he only caught passes in five of them and, at one point, went more than a month between receptions from Sept. 28 against then-No. 19 Illinois to Nov. 16 against Purdue, when he hauled in his only touchdown. Most of his contributions while averaging 16.7 snaps per game came as a run blocker for an offense that led the Big Ten in rushing and ranked 17th in that category.
But Reynolds arrived at Penn State with quite the pedigree after earning a five-star ranking from 247Sports and finishing as the top player at his position in the 2024 cycle. His stock began to soar the previous summer, in 2023, when Reynolds traveled to California for the Elite 11 Finals, where he had the chance to catch passes from some of the best quarterbacks in the country.
He had barely cracked the top 1,000 prospects in the country when that competition began but would end the summer in the top 50 nationally — a meteoric rise given the time span. Originally a high school quarterback himself, Reynolds had decided to make a full-time transition to tight end ahead of his senior season at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. He went on to catch 48 passes for 754 yards and eight touchdowns while flashing the kind of speed and overall athleticism generally reserved for wide receivers. And now that Warren is gone to the NFL — he was picked No. 14 overall by the Indianapolis Colts — Reynolds has the chance to become a preferred target for quarterback Drew Allar and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki in 2025.”
For now, on the Penn State depth chart, Dinkins is projected to be the starting tight end, and Reynolds is projected to be the second tight end on the depth chart. However, Dinkins will be entering his senior season and Reynolds will only be a sophomore. He will have way more upside in this offense and for the long-term also.
There is a chance that he will be the Nittany Lions starting tight end sooner rather than later for head coach James Franklin. Both tight ends didn’t produce a whole lot because of Warren’s production during the 2024 college football season. There is no doubt that there is a void to fill in that offense at the position. With a lack of a receiving game, Reynolds is going to have to step up and have a big sophomore season if Penn State is going to be in the national championship conversation. He is also 6’4″ and weighs 241 lbs.
For More Great Football Content
Follow me on Twitter at @glennkaplan13 more great content. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in college and professional football, click here!
