‘It’s always been a dream of mine’: Former Nittany Lion Ty Howle excited for new role as TEs coach
When Ty Howle decided to come back to Penn State last season as an offensive analyst, he knew a greater opportunity would present itself eventually. The former Nittany Lions offensive lineman just didn’t think it would happen this quickly.
“The reason I came back here was for an opportunity like this,” Howle, who was named the Nittany Lions’ new tight ends coach earlier this month, said Tuesday over Zoom during his introductory press conference. “When I left Penn State as a player, it was always my goal to get back here as a coach. I always knew I wanted to coach.”
Howle, who was a four-year letterwinner as an offensive lineman at Penn State from 2009-13, is replacing former tight ends coach Tyler Bowen after Bowen left the program this offseason to join Urban Meyer’s staff with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Howle spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at N.C. State and four seasons as an offensive line coach at Western Illinois before returning to Happy Valley in 2020.
But Howle made sure to always keep his eye on his goal of working the sidelines for the Nittany Lions.
Now, he’s reached one of the main checkpoints of his career at just 29 years old.
“It’s always been a dream of mine, so I wake up every morning and pinch myself and I’m tickled,” Howle said. “I’m excited to be here coaching the tight ends.”
TRANSITIONING TO A NEW ROLE
Even in his position as offensive analyst, Howle said he prepared each day like he was a position coach. And that has made the early transition to his new gig fairly smooth.
Getting the opportunity to see how Bowen conducted himself as the team’s tight ends coach last season was also crucial in helping Howle be ready to fill his shoes. Howle called Bowen “a great relationship guy.”
“Tyler was always very professional and he was really smart football-wise,” Howle said. “He did a great job learning and continuing to grow as a coach. Sometimes, guys can get stagnant and set in their ways about the way they want things done. And there’s gotta be a base belief system, but you’ve gotta evolve to get things done in the best way.”
Howle also said that he had already started to build relationships with players — particularly the tight ends — in his first season back with the program.
But, since he was promoted a few weeks ago, he’s made an extra effort to connect with the five tight ends on Penn State’s roster: redshirt freshman Brenton Strange, freshman Theo Johnson, freshman Tyler Warren, redshirt freshman Tommy Friberg and redshirt sophomore Grayson Kline.
“When I got the job, I tried to make sure I took some personal one-on-one time with each of them, talk to their parents, talk to their high school coaches, and just really make everybody knew I was in this for the right reasons,” Howle said.
EVALUATING PENN STATE’S TIGHT ENDS ROOM
Penn State’s tight ends room will look different this fall with star junior tight end Pat Freiermuth departing for the NFL.
Freiermuth only played in four games in 2020 before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery, but the 6-foot-5, 258-pound Massachusetts native still finished as the Nittany Lions’ third-leading receiver with 310 yards. He also took home the Kwalick-Clark Big Ten Tight End of the Year award — becoming the first Penn State player to receive the honor.
The Nittany Lions will now have to replace that production with their trio of scholarship tight ends: Strange, Johnson and Warren. Strange and Johnson saw their minutes significantly increase toward the second half of last season.
“(I’m) obviously, super, super excited about all three of them,” Howle said.
Strange, a 6-foot-3, 252-pound former four-star recruit in the Class of 2019, totaled 164 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 2020. Howle said he’s seen Strange get “better and better every day” this offseason.
Then, there’s Johnson — a former four-star, top-100 recruit in the Class of 2020. The 6-foot-6, 254-pound Canadian ended the 2020 season with only 56 receiving yards but showed flashes of athleticism at times.
And lastly, there’s Warren, who is the least hyped of the three. Warren came in as a three-star recruit in the Class of 2020 and appeared in two games last season but didn’t record a catch. Howle called the 6-foot-6, 235-pound under-the-radar player “one of the best athletes on the team.”
“We’re measured by wins and losses and you’ve gotta produce on Saturdays,” Howle said. “But I also wanna see the guys that are in the tight end room, 10 years from now, still producing as a father, as a husband, as a son, a business leader.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 5:17 PM.
