Arizona tight end Sam Olson 'starting to really flourish'

The last time Arizona tight end Sam Olson had a position coach not named Matt Adkins, he was a senior at Redwood High School in Visalia, California, in 2019. 

Adkins and UA head coach Brent Brennan recruited Olson to San Jose State, where the tight end played for four years before following his two coaches to Arizona.

Olson was one of several Spartans to transfer to Arizona last year, along with defensive end Tre Smith and running back Quali Conley. 

Adkins was Arizona's tight ends coach and passing game coordinator — and eventually interim play-caller in place of offensive coordinator Dino Babers — for Brennan's inaugural season in Tucson and was fired in January following the Wildcats' rocky 4-8 campaign in 2024.

With junior tight end Keyan Burnett nursing injuries throughout the season, Olson started 10 games for the Wildcats and had 13 catches for 196 yards and two touchdowns.  

Five years after Olson signed up to play for Adkins, he'll end his collegiate career with first-year Arizona tight ends coach Josh Miller, who worked with offensive coordinator Seth Doege at Purdue and most recently Marshall. 

Miller's standard for Arizona's tight ends is "choose violence" and be "aggressively violent" as route-runners and blockers. 

"Sam upholds the standard really well," Miller said. "He's grown in ways he's not really accustomed to. He's been with a position coach for X amount of years and has some habits that have been really ingrained with how he operates, which isn't right, wrong or indifferent, it's just what was coached.

"There are multiple ways to skin a cat, but now he is seeing the dividends of what I'm teaching and how it fits. He's starting to really flourish the last couple of practices as he comes into his own with some of the new techniques that are taught. I'm really pleased with where the room is at. They have all grown."

Miller said Olson and redshirt junior Tyler Powell, who is expected to have a more profound role this year after waiting in the wings the last three years, "have grown the most" this spring.

After losing Burnett, who transferred to Kansas, and veteran Roberto Miranda, Arizona stocked its tight end room with Mercyhurst transfer Cameron Barmore and three-star freshman Kellan Ford, who is joining the team in the summer.  

"Kellan is going to provide a skillset that's going to help the room," Miller said. "I was pretty impressed with his blocking ability and his willingness on film. Obviously, college life is going to be different, but the biggest thing he has is a mentality, so we'll polish him up; he'll be fine.

"He has a gift of changing direction. ... He's got a (combination) of skills that will allow him to flourish in a variety of positions we'll put him in." 

The Wildcats also have Phoenix-area natives in redshirt freshman Dylan Tapley, who was out last year with an injury, and redshirt junior John Hart at tight end, along with three Tucson products who recently switched positions: former Pusch Ridge Christian Academy linebacker and walk-on Tyler Mustain, Canyon Del Oro graduate and walk-on fullback Kayden Luke and former CDO edge rusher Chase Randall.

Olson said, "The transition (from Adkins to Miller and Doege's up-tempo offense) has been good."

"We brought in a lot of guys who can help us a lot and be competitive within different position groups," Olson said.

Added Olson: "That has helped the team grow and everyone on offense is better because of that, because of how everyone is competing with each other. I think it's been good." 

Olson often studies San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, because "you can tell he plays with a chip on his shoulder and he's kind of nasty, especially in the run game," Olson said.

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"I feel like I have that savviness that he has to get open, but I want to implement what he does in the run game into my game, so I like watching him for that reason," added Olson. 

Powell, who also emulates his skillset after Kittle, said, "one of the biggest things that stands out to me, is (Olson's) ability to get open in the passing game.

"Sam's ability to get open in the passing game is definitely something I've been working on," Powell said. "I feel like since he got here in the past year, it has helped me in the passing game, for sure." 

Olson and Powell are Arizona's two leaders at tight end, a position that will be vital for catching quick passes and blocking for receivers and running backs in an offense that is prioritizing getting the ball out of quarterback Noah Fifita's hands in a timely manner. To practice blocking, "a lot of the drills we do are O-Line specific when it comes to the run game," Miller said.

Whether it's Miller or Adkins, the common denominator in Olson's career has been Brennan.

"One thing I've always liked about Coach Brennan is that I can tell he truly cares about his players," Olson said. "It's not something every coach shows. They might care about them, but they don't show it; he really shows it. Even when I was a freshman at San Jose State, leaving home for the first time, he was like a father figure to me. To have a head coach be that is special. I think he really cares about us and is always trying to put his best foot forward for the team. Everything is for us, for the players. I think that's really important."

Olson is enrolled in the master of real estate development program at the UA, after initially wanting to become a firefighter.  

"I'm a lot more interested than I thought I would be, which I was surprised, but I'm excited about it," Olson said.

Olson has used Arizona's "Beyond Football" program, led by UA director of player development Tobruk Blaine, "to try and build connections in Tucson and get my foot in the door for real estate development," Olson said. 

The inspiration behind Olson's non-football career choice is his grandfather, who moved from Mexico to Central Valley in Northern California and started a construction company called "Guillermo Construction." 

"I've always kind of been around it," Olson said. "During the summers, I would be on job sites with him. Being able to be a part of something and build something and see the finished product and see people using it and enjoying it, whenever I drive by it, I think that's really cool."

He said it

– Miller, on working with Doege: "Coach Doege and I are cut from the same cloth. I've said this a few times, and I mean it with my full heart, everyone has their guys in the profession and there's very few guys in which you'd risk your family's livelihood for; he's that for me. I believe in him wholeheartedly. He's a perfectionist. If he doesn't have a solution, he's going to find a solution."

– Miller, on Doege crafting the offensive playbook to the talent of available personnel: "Everyone says we have the Air Raid moniker, which we do. That is where the system was founded from, but between his experiences at Ole Miss, Purdue and Marshall, he and I have helped formulate this identity into, 'Hey, you gotta throw the ball to score points, but run the ball to win games.' He has done a nice job of understanding where the kids are at and how to get the most out of them. He didn't get to do what he wanted to do, but he found ways to win games with the guys that he had."

– Miller on the relationship between Fifita and Doege: "Noah is a special individual with not only his gifts, but him as a person. He's very humble and he serves everyone to the fullest capacity and he wants to learn and grow, so he's really modest, as well. Seth is very similar. He has great experiences, but he's also not so big-headed that he can't serve Noah and what Noah's skill sets are.

"That marriage has been really special to watch grow and develop. ... He's super cerebral and Doege is going to push him to further that to the best of his ability. You talk about two humans that were made for each other. They're fierce competitors, but they're extremely humble for what's best for each other in the fullest capacity."