Tight End Trae Barry Transfers to Boston College: Assessing BC’s Tight End Depth Chart

Boston College added a new offensive weapon for 2021 on Tuesday night when senior tight end Trae Barry announced he will be transferring to Boston College for his grad year.

Barry spent the last four years playing for FCS Jacksonville State, where he was an FCS All-American. The 6’7’’ tight end will add depth to a position BC is looking to restock after the departure of Hunter Long to the pro ranks.

Barry just wrapped up his FCS season for Jacksonville State, in which he caught 33 passes for 534 yards and a touchdown over 11 games.

Tight end is currently probably the shallowest part of the BC offensive depth chart heading into the fall. The only returning player who had any significant playing time last year at the position is Spencer Witter, who caught 6 balls for 68 yards.

None of the other returning tight ends caught any passes last year. Joey Luchetti took some snaps in 2019 before suffering an injury last year, and redshirt junior Brendan Smith has had limited playing time over the last few years before featuring more in the spring game. Beyond that, the Eagles are relying on freshmen.

BC has two redshirt freshmen who entered in 2020 as three-star prospects in New Jersey’s Charlie Gordiner (6’5’’) and Pennsylvania’s Hans Lillis (6’4’’). After their redshirt year, expect to see them integrated into the offense to some extent. BC’s other returning redshirt freshman tight end, Tommy Birmingham, entered as a preferred walk-on.

All things considered, Barry looks to be likely to feature this season as the pass-catching tight end - an important pickup given BC’s apparent lack of depth at the position. Barry, an Alabama native, was pursued by a number of quality programs once he entered the portal, including Ole Miss and Florida State - so you have to think the potential for stepping in and getting significant playing time was a big factor in his decision to head north.

Tight end was a key part of the BC offense last year, and it will be interesting to see how Barry is utilized on an offensive unit that looks to be pretty stacked at the other key offensive positions. If Barry can become an effective weapon at tight end, that should allow BC’s most loaded combination of QB and WR talent in many years to be even more potent.

Welcome to the Heights!