Cowley Leads Reinforced Tight End Corps

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By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
 
CHARLOTTESVILLE – With the conclusion of the Belk Bowl on Dec. 28, the position of tight end looked to be in danger of extinction at the University of Virginia.
 
UVA’s 28-0 win over South Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., marked the end of Evan Butts’ college career and left Tanner Cowley as the only tight end on the roster with eligibility remaining. But Cowley, who’ll be a fifth-year senior in the fall, now has company as the Cavaliers prepared to start spring practice Monday morning.
 
Grant Misch, who worked at outside linebacker and defensive end last season, has moved to tight end. Also working at the position is Christian Baumgardner, who rejoined the Wahoos this year after being away from the team in 2018.
 
“They’re both eager to learn and seemingly doing well out there,” Cowley said. “Christian’s still trying to get in shape and work his way into it, but Grant’s been very impressive so far.”
 
The 6-4, 244-pound Misch, who enrolled at UVA last summer, appeared in only one game in 2018, so he still has four seasons of eligibility. At Potomac Falls High in Loudoun County, where he also played basketball, Misch was second-team all-conference at tight end.
 
The 6-5 Baumgardner played in two games at defensive end as a redshirt freshman in 2017, when he was listed at 290 pounds. He now weighs 245 pounds.
 
Baumgardner, who’s from Longport, N.J., caught 32 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns as a senior at Ocean City High in 2015. He came to UVA as a tight end in January 2016, in fact, but he “wasn’t a great fit with the style we were running at that time,” head coach Bronco Mendenhall said last week.
 
“Our current offense is a much better fit for Christian at tight end than our original offense was when we arrived.”
 
Baumgardner needs to improve his conditioning, Mendenhall said, and “his skills will have to be built back up, but [tight end] could be a really good spot for him, and we feel the same and we’re really excited about Grant Misch as well and what he might be able to do at that position.”
 
Misch, who started at defensive end against Georgia Tech in November, impressed the Cavaliers’ coaches last year with “his work ethic, his toughness and just the way he plays the game,” Mendenhall said. “We like everything about him.”
 
UVA has excellent depth on the defensive line, however, and “so the thought was: How do we get him on the field? Where can he help us the fastest and make the biggest impact in the upcoming year?” Mendenhall said.
 
To be effective on the front line of Virginia’s 3-4 defense, Misch would have needed to bulk up significantly. He already has excellent size for his new position.
 
“When you look at the tight end, there’s a chance that he plays a significant amount in the opener against Pitt,” Mendenhall said. “It just was an easy choice, and with his presence, in terms of physicality and determination and toughness, as well as the ability he has to run and change direction, I think it could be a great move for him.”
 
The 6-4, 240-pound Cowley, who redshirted in 2015, was Butts’ understudy for the next three seasons. He’ll assume a more prominent role in the offense this year.
 
“He is that spot now,” Mendenhall said. “Now, what does that spot look like? The spring will have a lot to do with that.”
 
The key, Cowley said, is “always being available” in the passing game, especially when plays break down and dual-threat quarterback Bryce Perkins starts to improvise.
 
“You gotta be ready for him to be running out of the pocket,” Cowley said, “which helps for a tight end if you’re in that short-route game. If he’s looking deep and scrambling, he’s looking for someone to ditch it to [underneath].”
 
Butts finished his UVA career with 71 catches for 635 yards and eight touchdowns. Cowley, who’s from Manasquan, N.J., has been used primarily as a blocker at UVA and has modest receiving numbers: six catches for 84 yards.
 
Cowley is faster than Butts, however, and “has more length, and I would say he’s more versatile,” Mendenhall said. “We haven’t dialed in yet what exactly his signature is, and so this spring will be really important for us to find out what Tanner does best. How can we best incorporate it? How will that complement what the rest of the offense does? So we’re on a journey of discovery for him.”
 
From Butts, Cowley said, he learned valuable lessons about being “a leader and a worker. He does everything the right way in the film room, outside football, and on the field. Being at his side for four years was great for me, to watch a player like him develop and help me develop.”
 
Cowley, 21, started eight games in 2017 and four last season. He was on the field for the last play of UVA’s regular-season finale against Virginia Tech in 2018. In overtime, a poor exchange between Perkins and running back Jordan Ellis led to a fumble that the Hokies recovered to secure a 34-31 victory at Lane Stadium.
 
The play was a run-pass option, and Virginia Tech left Cowley uncovered in the right flat, with wide receiver Hasise Dubois in front of him to block.
 
“If Bryce didn’t hand off, it was coming off to me,” Cowley said. 
 
Mendenhall said: “The defensive call left players open. We just didn’t execute it well enough.”
 
Cowley’s family lives about a mile from the beach on the Jersey Shore. A two-way standout at Manasquan High School, where he also played baseball, he committed to UVA in June 2014. 
 
Initially, Cowley recalled “I just loved the school itself and loved the opportunity.” But he later became familiar with the tight end tradition at Virginia, whose standouts at that position have included Heath Miller, Tom Santi and John Phillips.
 
The Cavaliers’ tight ends coach, Robert Anae, is also their offensive coordinator.
 
“He told me that this spring’s going to be big for us,” Cowley said, “so I’m exciting. It looks very promising [for the tight ends].”
 
Under Anae, Cowley said, the “offense is always changing. I’m in roles that I never thought I’d be in. I’m not just a hand-down tight end. I’m flexing out, I’m in the backfield. It gives me the chance to show I can do a lot of different things.”
 
A foreign affairs major, Cowley is on to track to earn his bachelor’s degree in May. He hopes to enroll in a graduate program in UVA’s Curry School of Education this summer.
 
“It’s been great,” Cowley said of his time in Charlottesville. “I love the surrounding area. I’ve made it to Monticello. My parents love coming here and going to eat places downtown. So I’ve got no complaints. I love it.”
 
His football experience at UVA has been varied. In 2015, the Cavaliers posted a 4-8 record in their final season under head coach Mike London.
 
In 2016, their first season under Mendenhall, the ‘Hoos dipped to 2-10. In 2017, after advancing to postseason for the first time in six years, Virginia finished 6-7 after losing to Navy in the Military Bowl.
 
Then came the breakthrough. In 2018, UVA finished 8-5 after winning a bowl game for the first time in 13 years.
 
“Going into these offseason workouts, I think it motivates people more and more,” Cowley said of the victory over South Carolina. “We got to a bowl [in 2017) and we lost. Now we got to a bowl and won. There’s always something more out there. We’re just reaching for that next goal.”
 
The ‘Hoos know there’s “much still to be accomplished,” Mendenhall said. Virginia contended for the Coastal Division title in 2018 before ending the regular season with back-to-back overtime losses, the first in Atlanta and the second in Blacksburg.
 
“So there’s growth,” Mendenhall said. “The program now can’t be surprised by success, and the players and the staff can’t be taken off guard by how well we might have done or that we are competing well against anyone that we play.
 
“And so what’s happening now is just realizing how close we were, in a lot of different games and a lot of different situations, to even accomplishing more. There’s no one that’s satisfied, and we’re hungry for more than what we currently have … I think what our bowl game did last year was it added confidence and optimism and hope for not only what can happen, but possibly how fast it can happen.”
 
About a dozen players, including several starters, will be limited or sidelined during spring practice because of injuries. All, however, should be ready for the start of the season.
 
“That’s the good part,” Mendenhall said. “None are threatening the fall. And just to be clear, fall is the primary goal. I would love to have both, a great spring and a great fall, but in this case having to choose one or the other, fall is certainly still most important.”