Photo by: Aly Bayliss
2026 Position Preview: Tight Ends
8/13/2026 12:29:00 AM | Football
Abilene Christian boasts one of the strongest tight end groups in the United Athletic Conference with returners Itty Henry and Carson May, joining transfers Jayden York and Larry Benton III.
ACU tight ends coach Stanton Keane provided a preview of how the position is coming along during preseason practices.
On the group as a whole...
The thing that excites me most about this group is one, I feel there's a lot of snaps that have been played between our top two guys in Itty Henry and Jayden York. I'm really excited about what Larry Benton and Carson May can do. I feel we're big and we're fast. We kind of have long bodies, I think we have the ability this year to be more explosive in the past game as a tight end group. I'm looking forward to that. These guys are doing a great job in the run game. They're creating movement in the run game. We've been doing some motion stuff with them. Their athleticism and their length is what's really gonna help them.
On Itty Henry, who was named Preseason All-UAC 2nd Team by Phil Steele magazine...
The best thing about Itty is he's just an all-around football player. Talking about the pass game, I think he has a great feel for green grass. He's very detailed as far as his depth and his routes. We have a lot of choice routes that we run. He does a good job of finding green grass. To be honest with you, he has some of the best hands on the team; super soft hands. Another thing that really helps him out is he's got very, very loose hips, if that makes sense. It's easy for him to get in and out of a break, and obviously having soft hands and all that experience really helps him in the pass game.
On the tight ends' importance to ACU's running game...
We understand that in order for us to win championships, we have to run the football. These guys have done an incredible job of embracing that, playing with low a low pad level, being explosive at the point of attack. They're all very willing blockers and they're not afraid to put their face on people. The competition in that room is really good right now, so I think competition brings the best out of everybody. They've been just doing a great job. We have a little saying which, we say, 'block and rock.' That means if you don't block, you don't get the rock. We're excited to build off what we did last year. These guys have been doing a great job and they're gonna be huge for us in the run game this year and we're looking forward to it.
ACU tight ends coach Stanton Keane provided a preview of how the position is coming along during preseason practices.
On the group as a whole...
The thing that excites me most about this group is one, I feel there's a lot of snaps that have been played between our top two guys in Itty Henry and Jayden York. I'm really excited about what Larry Benton and Carson May can do. I feel we're big and we're fast. We kind of have long bodies, I think we have the ability this year to be more explosive in the past game as a tight end group. I'm looking forward to that. These guys are doing a great job in the run game. They're creating movement in the run game. We've been doing some motion stuff with them. Their athleticism and their length is what's really gonna help them.
On Itty Henry, who was named Preseason All-UAC 2nd Team by Phil Steele magazine...
The best thing about Itty is he's just an all-around football player. Talking about the pass game, I think he has a great feel for green grass. He's very detailed as far as his depth and his routes. We have a lot of choice routes that we run. He does a good job of finding green grass. To be honest with you, he has some of the best hands on the team; super soft hands. Another thing that really helps him out is he's got very, very loose hips, if that makes sense. It's easy for him to get in and out of a break, and obviously having soft hands and all that experience really helps him in the pass game.
On the tight ends' importance to ACU's running game...
We understand that in order for us to win championships, we have to run the football. These guys have done an incredible job of embracing that, playing with low a low pad level, being explosive at the point of attack. They're all very willing blockers and they're not afraid to put their face on people. The competition in that room is really good right now, so I think competition brings the best out of everybody. They've been just doing a great job. We have a little saying which, we say, 'block and rock.' That means if you don't block, you don't get the rock. We're excited to build off what we did last year. These guys have been doing a great job and they're gonna be huge for us in the run game this year and we're looking forward to it.
𝐀𝐂𝐔 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
— ACU Football (@ACUFootball) August 12, 2026
💪 TIGHT ENDS
Head coach Keith Patterson calls this the deepest tight end room he's had in his 5 years at ACU ‼️#GoWildcats | #CDT pic.twitter.com/qFJyt1ri3O
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