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Austin Seferian-Jenkins has been receiving a lot of hype lately. The rookie tight end was picked high in the second round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and missed most of the offseason due to NFL rules related to the University of Washington's term system -- but since he's been present in training camp, he's been blowing stuff up.
Seferian-Jenkins has been praised for how quickly he picked up the system. For how well he'd done to keep up during the offseason despite not being able to practice. For how well he's worked to get better. And of course, for his production.
Spent the day at the #Bucs facility talking to people. Rookie TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins sounds like the real deal. "A coach’s dream."
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 13, 2014
The hype is real. The massive tight end caught two passes for 29 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and saw another 48-yard play called back due to a penalty that wasn't his fault. He struggled more as a blocker, getting beat and called for holding twice, but that's an area of his game he's been working on consistently in training camp.
What's more impressive about Seferian-Jenkins is that he has been realistic and critical of himself. There were concerns about his character prior to the draft, but most of those concerns consisted of non-specific rumors. He had one DUI arrest last year, but owned up to it and talked about it apologetically and intelligently. None of those character concerns have shown up in Tampa so far.
"I didn't grade out good enough. I didn't play well enough, as you could see. I had two holding calls, I didn't block well enough and I didn't run my routes well enough, so I didn't get enough of a satisfactory grade to my liking. I don't know what my grade was, but it wasn't good enough."
I feel all glowy after that quote. That sounds like someone who knows what he has to do to get better, and we all know he has the physical tools to be a very good tight end. Hopefully we'll get to see some of that on the field this year.