Andrew Ogletree's lack of reps at the tight end position, he believes, might actually end up playing in the Indianapolis Colts' favor.
The Colts on Saturday used their sixth-round (192nd-overall) selection in the 2022 NFL Draft on Ogletree, a Youngstown State University product who converted over from wide receiver after transferring over from Division II University of Findlay.
Listed at 6-foot-5 and 261 pounds, Ogletree certainly looks the part at the next level, while his willingness to adapt to the nuances of the tight end position — on top of his natural skills as a pass catcher — make him an intriguing developmental prospect moving forward for the Colts.
"They can mold me into whatever they want, because I've only played tight end for one year, and I have a receiver background, and I think I put some pretty good stuff up on film of me playing tight end," Ogletree told Indy-area reporters in his first media session with the team. "So I feel like I'm a ball of clay; they can mold me however they want, however they see fit."
Ogletree was a football and basketball standout at Northridge High School in Ohio, where he was selected as the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Division 3 Player of the Year. He would go on to appear in 27 games playing wide receiver at Findlay, totaling 54 receptions for 785 yards and 10 touchdowns.
At Youngstown State, Ogletree played in 17 total games with 12 starts, logging 40 receptions for 391 yards. He then shined in the Hula Bowl all-star college game in January, earning Player of the Game honors after hauling in two receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown.
As a receiving tight end, Ogletree feels he can develop into mismatch all over the field. Last season at Youngstown State, he lined up inline (313 snaps), in the slot (181 snaps), and out wide (64 snaps), earning a 94.1 receiving grade from Pro Football Focus on medium-range passes of 10-19 yards.
"I was lined up everywhere, from in-line to H-back, to split out in the slot, to split out at the X by myself over there," he said. "So they tried to put me everywhere they could to get a mismatch."
But Ogletree knows to really excel at the NFL level, he'll have to work on his blocking. It's a part of his game in which he felt he was making strides throughout his final season at Youngstown State, and it's something with which he'll approach tirelessly when he arrives in Indianapolis.
"It's a little different going from blocking smaller cornerbacks and safeties down to big defensive linemen," Ogletree said. "I feel like in the pass game I'm so comfortable there — I've been there all my life, really — and just going down to block some of the big guys, trying to improve on that, improve my hand placement, footwork and everything like that (is my biggest goal)."
Ogletree is the second tight end selected by the Colts in the 2022 NFL Draft — a position of need following the recent retirement of Pro Bowler Jack Doyle. Indianapolis used a third-round pick on University of Virginia standout Jelani Woods, and now has the likes of Ogletree, Woods, Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson at tight end, as well as offseason roster hopefuls Farrod Green, Michael Jacobson, Nikola Kalinic and Eli Wolf.
