Penn State knows it can’t replace superstar TE Tyler Warren. So here’s the plan
Those in Penn State’s tight end room have long since lost count how many times they’ve been asked this offseason about superstar Tyler Warren, the 2024 starter who’s now playing on Sundays.
A hundred times? A thousand? Even more than last offseason?
“Probably so, probably so,” tight ends coach Ty Howle said with a laugh during media day earlier this month. “And rightly so, after the year he had and things he did. He deserves all that credit. But I’m excited to get going with this group.”
How the Nittany Lions replace Warren — whether they can replace Warren — will likely play a key role in whether this team makes it further than last season’s semifinal appearance in the College Football Playoff. Warren became a national superstar in 2024, a generational talent who became the first tight end to earn a first-place Heisman vote since 1977.
And no one — not Howle nor the three tight ends primed for the most playing time — expects any individual to replace Warren’s 104 catches or 1,233 receiving yards this year.
“The big thing to me is you don’t replace Ty Warren,” Howle said. “You got to replace his production. And what I’ve told guys every time I’ve gotten, ‘How are we doing to do this?’ is that they’ve got to be the best versions of themselves.
“That’s my big message. We don’t replace the human; we replace the production or the jobs he did.”
Maybe that means one of the team’s transfer receivers becomes the No. 1 option, or running backs Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton become a bigger part of the passing game. Or maybe that simply means some combination of three tight ends — Khalil Dinkins, Luke Reynolds, Andrew Rappleyea — is poised to break out.
Even the tight ends acknowledged they’re not entirely sure what to expect. But, they were quick to remind, few saw last season coming either.
And they’re confident the tight end room can be better this season, even if it might not boast a future top-15 NFL draft pick like Warren.
“Yessir. I wholeheartedly believe that,” said Reynolds, a sophomore. “Coach Howle has done a great job developing everyone in the tight end room between Dink being the oldest guy and the younger guys that just got in. I believe everyone in the tight end room can go and contribute on any given day.”
The early scouting report on the three is simple enough: Dinkins is best known for his run blocking, Reynolds is seen as a speedy playmaker, and Rappleyea is somewhere in-between. All three have worked on becoming better all-around tight ends this offseason, with Dinkins acknowledging he’s been focused on improving his route running and Reynolds adding that he’s gotten stronger in his blocking.
Rappleyea, who suffered a serious lower-body injury last year before Week 2, said he’s working to shake the rust off. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki joked the staff has been forced to hold Rappleyea back a bit, because he keeps trying to jump to the front of the practice line to get more reps, a habit Rappleyea wasn’t shy in acknowledging.
“Injuries are tough, but that’s the name of the game,” Rappleyea added. “Who’s going to sulk, and who’s going to get off their feet and do something about it?”
The cupboards aren’t often bare in Penn State’s tight end room. Rappleyea said he isn’t intimidated by the shadow of Warren because, when he arrived two years ago, he was sharing a locker room with eventual New York Giants TE Theo Johnson, who started ahead of Warren. And Howle pointed out that Warren was once primarily a blocking TE, not unlike Dinkins last season, when Warren was behind eventual Jacksonville Jaguars TE Brenton Strange.
Over the last 10 years, no FBS program has produced more NFL tight ends than the Nittany Lions (6).
So, while three relatively unproven commodities vye for time this season, they’re confident they can maintain that reputation. Because most players are close in age, Rappleyea believes this is the closest the room has been in years. He said the room sort of mimics a friendly game of golf — even though everyone’s competitive, no one’s rooting for his friend to hit a bad slice off the tee.
“You can’t be upset when everyone’s doing good,” Rappleyea added.
Because of his experience, Dinkins — a redshirt senior — is likely in line for the most snaps early in the season. But it’s unknown exactly how that will play out, or what the snap-count looks like by year’s end.
Whatever comes, the Nittany Lions’ tight ends coach just wants his unit prepared.
“If it calls for us to run the ball 80 times a game and block 80 snaps? That’s what we’re going to do,” Howle said. “If it’s throwing it 100 times a game and 100 snaps of running routes, that’s what we’ll do.
“The big thing is team-first, selflessness, and then executing our job at a high level — whatever it’s called to be.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2025 at 9:22 AM.
