'The cards played out well' for Arizona's hurdling tight end Tanner McLachlan

Life in Tucson is a little more settled for Tanner McLachlan than a year ago.

Last spring, he was a newbie learning Arizona’s offensive system and adjusting to his lifestyle in the Old Pueblo. This season, he’s a savvy veteran tight end — and a dog dad to an 8-month-old English bulldog puppy, Georgie.

A year ago, the redshirt senior from Alberta, Canada, was still amid his rehabilitation for an ACL injury he suffered during his final season at Southern Utah. He was limited in spring ball and wore a hefty knee brace.

Now his knee “feels great, 110%,” he said.

“I don’t think about it anymore,” McLachlan said after Saturday’s pracitce. “I’m excited that I don’t have to use my knee brace anymore this season.”

He can thank the internet, specifically YouTube, for his journey to a healthy knee. McLachlan tore his ACL in spring of 2021, then had surgery in June. Between the time McLachlan left Southern Utah and the time he joined Arizona as a walk-on, he sought knee workouts and physical therapy sessions on YouTube.

“YouTube definitely helped a little bit for sure,” McLachlan said.

For Arizona tight ends coach Jordan Paopao, the do-it-yourself (DIY) knee rehab is “a testament of how hungry” McLachlan is.

“ ‘I’m not going to wait for somebody to help me out, I’m going to try and be proactive. I’m going to try and figure out things myself,’ ” Paopao said. “I think that’s the culture of the room. ‘Hey, what can I do to not only help myself, but help the team, and how can I proactively get ahead of it?’ ”

Not only did McLachlan get ahead of his rehab, he caught 34 passes for 456 yards and two touchdowns, the most yards and catches by a UA tight end since Rob Gronkowski in 2008.

Being mentioned in the same breath as “Gronk,” one of the greatest tight ends of all time, is something McLachlan tries “not to think about too much.”

“Obviously it’s very cool, but I want to beat his record this year,” McLachlan said. “Again, whatever the team needs, that’s what I’m willing to do.

“It’s in the back of my mind, but it’s not the most important thing. It comes down to wins and losses, and that’s all that matters.”

The 6-5, 240-pound McLachlan displayed a useful move during his first season at Arizona — which he hadn’t performed ever in his football career: hurdling defenders. He did it three times last season against North Dakota State, Colorado and UCLA.

“It’s pretty natural,” McLachlan said. “I don’t think about it too much. I see short guys out there and feel like I have a little bit of a height advantage. I feel like I can jump over them, so I just do it. It’s kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. … I tried it against North Dakota State. Y’all saw how that went. I didn’t do it very well. Just trial and error, I guess.”

Trial and error has worked out well for McLachlan the last two years. When McLachlan arrived last spring, he “bet on myself” and did “everything in my power to get on the field as fast as I can.”

“The cards played out well for me, I think,” McLachlan said. “It happened how it did, but that’s last year. This year, I’m helping out the team any way I can contribute. … Whatever the team needs me to do, whether that’s put my hand in the dirt, run-blocking, being an official blocker or catching touchdowns, whatever it is.

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“I just want to put the team first and do my job.”

‘Everything has slowed down’ for Burnett

McLachlan’s tight end cohort, Keyan Burnett, who was among the top-rated prospects in Arizona’s 2022 recruiting class, was expected to be the Wildcats’ starting tight end as a true freshman until McLachlan ascended the depth chart last spring.

As a 6-6, 235-pound freshman, Burnett had three receptions for 10 yards. Learning the offensive playbook and settling into a new setting as an early enrollee “wasn’t overwhelming,” Burnett said.

“But I took a lot of lumps and lessons last year,” he said. “I’m ready to work this year.”

One year of learning Arizona’s offense and taking a secondary role to McLachlan paid dividends for Burnett’s growth at the Power 5 level.

“He’s a hell of a player,” Burnett said of McLachlan. “I’m blessed to have him in the room with his work ethic and learn from him and watch what he does and put it into my own game.”

Added Paopao: “Any time you have someone unique like a Tanner McLachlan, you look at it like, ‘How do I match it and do something that’s a little bit better? How do I one-up?’ If you continue that competition ... that generates a lot of want-to for the rest of the room.”

Burnett — who put on 10 pounds and changed his jersey number from 89 to 88, the number he wore growing up because his favorite player is Dez Bryant — said “everything has slowed down a little bit, for sure” entering his second season.

“The comfortability of knowing where to go, and now he’s going to take the next step in terms of ‘Why I’m doing this, how do we anticipate things, how to manipulate coverage so I can get a little bit more separation,’ ” Paopao said. “Coach-speak is always ‘the details, the details’ — well, that’s his detail. Knowing, ‘Hey, this is my route, this is the look that’s being presented to me, and this is what I have to do to try and manipulate the safety into a certain spot and create some space down the field.’ ”

Burnett’s progress over the last year has McLachlan eager to discover what a two-tight end system could do to complement Arizona’s other pass catchers and run game.

“Keyan is a beast. … I see so much growth. The jump from Year 1 to Year 2 is huge for a lot of tight ends,” McLachlan said. “With him, it’s been crazy. He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten stronger, faster and confident. That’s what I see the most: He’s super confident, and I think he’s going to be a dog for us this year.

“He’s going to catch the rock, he’s going to block for us, so whatever is asked of him, I think he’ll do a great job.”

Extra points

Paopao said Roberto Miranda, a 6-3, 245-pound redshirt sophomore from Berlin, Germany, is “night and day” better this season. Said Paopao: “You just see a lot of comfort. Roberto is a unique specimen. Anytime you have to overcome a couple season-ending knee injuries, and then still have the trust, still have the explosion, still have the ability to generate agility, I think it’s unbelievable. It’s a testament to his mental fortitude, and how serious he’s taken the game.”

Paopao on the tight ends’ best attribute this spring: “The biggest thing I’ve seen (and) the difference (from last spring) is the explosive playmaking over the first three days and being able to catch balls down the field. And probably run after the catch, that’s been fantastic.”

Salpointe Catholic star defensive end Elijah Rushing, whose brother is Florida transfer and UA safety Cruz Rushing, attended Arizona’s practice on Saturday. The 6-6, 245-pounder, rated by 247Sports.com as the No. 1 edge rusher for the 2024 recruiting class, donned a navy-blue, long-sleeved UA shirt and stood on the sidelines.