Why tight end Ben Brahmer will be a key piece in Penn State’s offense this season
Ben Brahmer’s choice to go to Penn State this winter wasn’t the first time he chose to be coached by Taylor Mouser after a staffing overhaul. Brahmer, one of the best players on Iowa State’s team last season, likely wouldn’t have been a Cyclone at all if not for another staff move when he was a recruit. The tight end is from Nebraska and was set to play for the hometown Cornhuskers.
But then head coach Scott Frost was fired, Matt Rhule came in and Brahmer looked elsewhere. That’s when Mouser, who was then Iowa State’s tight ends coach, reached back out. “Once he did that, when Mouse reached out, we kind of knew that that was probably the better decision,” Brahmer said. “And I think I made a great decision to go in with that coaching staff and coming here.” Now the second team All-Big 12 tight end is following his coach — who is now Penn State’s offensive coordinator after holding the same role with Iowa State for two years — again. And he’s primed to be a key piece for the Nittany Lions as Mouser shapes the offense in his vision.
Brahmer is a long, athletic tight end who can excel as a pass catcher, but has also struggled with injuries at times during his career, in-season and in the offseason. That’s why this spring is so important. If he’s going to be a key part of the offense he’s going to need to make the next steps in his development.
And, for once, he has a chance to do that during the spring. “Ben has had a really good spring,” head coach Matt Campbell said. “Honestly this is the first offseason that Ben has truly had during his collegiate career. I think you see it, he’s almost 258 right now in terms of body weight. He’s as strong and physical as he’s been. I really thought, so far, he’s had a tremendous spring.”
That’ll help Brahmer but will also help the program. Because he’s one of only a few healthy tight ends on the team this spring. He’s going to have to soak up reps just for the offense to progress as it needs to as a whole. And that’s opened up another opportunity for him. That’s because, while he’s an excellent receiver, Brahmer still has room to grow in other aspects of his game. And because there are players who are banged up in the position room — like Andrew Rappleyea, whose injury has him out for the spring — he will have more than enough reps to meet that challenge.
“There was a lot that I challenged him to grow in the run game,” Mouser said. “There’s a lot of opportunity to do things that maybe he wouldn’t have gotten. I think when the reps are at a high level, it forces you to put those guys — and we can give different looks — to put those guys in positions to go fail or challenge them mentally where it’s not so physical. Like today, we were running out there as coaches just trying to give them different looks, to force them to communicate.
” Brahmer will have to continue improving while helping the rest of the team get used to an offense he’s familiar with. This is, after all, a group of returning Penn State players being combined with a group of Iowa State players and another group of incoming transfers from elsewhere.
That kind of assimilation will require a lot of learning. And it’s required Brahmer to adjust to a new role as a leader. “It’s been really good, helping the guys that stayed here with the new offense,” Brahmer said.
“It kind of lets me learn the whole thing over again and know all the exact details. … Helping guys out learning the playbook and showing them how to do certain techniques in the run game, in the pass game — it’s been really fun for me doing that.” The Penn State tight end’s leadership will help — but so will his production this fall. That’s when he and the rest of the offense will have a chance to take a big step. And prove this is the right group to correct the course for the program and get it back on track.
